‘hanging out’ means not talking to each other in the same room
This is part of why people want the autistic symbol to be cats instead of the puzzle piece, if you didn’t know already @biggest-gaudiest-patronuses, because that’s a mood for most of us lol. Like, so many parallels.
i did NOT know, tell me more
Okay, so here’s the gist of it from what I can remember off the top of my head, and other folks feel free to contribute!
Cats are like us because they:
Experience sensory overload (not sure about underload)
Communicate in ways that folks (who only know about dogs usually) don’t understand and think is them being assholes
Have really subtle body language
Really do think existing in the same room with you both doing your own thing is hanging out
Get misunderstood and have a bad rap, even though they’re just trying to exist
Probably a hell of a lot more, but it’s almost 1 am and I need sleep
People! Add more shit! Make a list!
Underload = when they go sprint around the house and claw things bc There’s Not Enough To do
? maybe ?
-sometimes disliking eye contact, but also sometimes looking upon you fondly with a calm/slow blink
-sometimes making happy sounds, just because… happy
– cats tend to have favorite activities and toys (scratching posts, a little jingle ball, feather stick) similar to us having stim toys and special interests
– cats like having a schedule/routine, we tend to thrive when we have a shedule/routine
– maybe mirroring? the reason cats sit on your laptop or book is because they want to do what you’re doing. sometimes I like to do the same stuff as people I care for to socialize because it helps me know them and their interests better
– cats bring you stuff sometimes (flowers, socks, dead animals). sometimes I bring stuff to my loved ones because I think they’d like it (cool rocks, feathers, links to stuff online)
– affectionate head butting? (idk about other autistic people but my bf and I like to rub our heads against each other)
I second the head-butting thing. That’s literally how I hug people I trust. My arms do nothing, I just stick my head by theirs and press against them, like the human version of a horse hug.
You know what… I don’t think it was the timing or that we weren’t ready or that we were at different points in our lives or that your job was too demanding. I think if you put us anywhere at any time at any age, it still would have turned out the same. We just weren’t meant to be and that was the only problem.
teachers, share the weird crap your kids have done!
I’m not a teacher (yet) but I do work with students and one of them had the nerve to look me dead in the eye and ask me “why would it be a bad idea for me to eat this entire marker?” They’re 11
An 4th grader asked for a high five by saying, “A little slappy to make daddy happy?”
I did not give him a high five.
A student during break had her head in her arms and was shaking a bit, so i asked the kid next to her whether she was laughing or crying and this 8 year old stared me in the eye deadpan and said “im crying on the inside”
Wait i take that back, I cant believe i forgot about the time i brought in a small stuffed octopus as a class mascot because why tf not. It was a class of high schoolers and i didnt imagine theyd actually care much, but one student snuck in a snack and gave it to the octopus as a tribute. Which led to other students doing the same thing, until every day there was a pile of of offerings to Fweej the Overseer, mostly consisting of things like string cheeses and small bags of chips, but sometimes there wouldd be a couple bucks in quarters, one kid brought in some giant pocky i think, and at one point there was a cold stone gift card. This stuffed octopus gained a cult following.
Later i brought in another stuffed octopus that looked exactly the same but bigger and told the class that Fweej the Overseer accepted their offerings and became stronger. These highschoolers lost their goddamn minds.
Oh my god I love this. Thank you for letting those kids be the dorks all high schoolers are.
べんきょうしなければならない 