Pretty sure the first dude to collect dead bugs and put them on corkboards with pins probably was on the spectrum. Also geologists. I can't think of any other reason a person would be super into rocks.
this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Knowledge of sports statistics is a socially acceptable autistic hyper fixation.
Ever talked to one of these people? You mention a baseball player and they can tell you what their batting average was for each year of their decade long career, or they can tell you where every NFL player went to college; meanwhile I have trouble remembering my own phone number.
I'm too lazy to keep things organized, does that get me out of autism?
I think that upgrades your autism to audhd.
My grandfather has a collection of construction engines models perfectly aligned on shelves in the veranda.
I've always loved the "lengths of wire" line. As a kid I used to check out lots of outdated library books about building a home science lab, and they consistently called a short piece of wire a "length" of wire. I don't think I ever saw that term in any other context until Futurama, so it really brought back my nerdy roots.
Amateur. Back in the 90s i collected odds and ends because I wanted to exactly be like a Sierra online adventure game protagonist.
Also I collected coins. But I guess that was not eccentric enough to be an autistic thing?
My grandpa was very smart but seemingly clueless about the world. A lot of people said that he was a 12 year old in an adult body
He couldn't of possibly been Autistic...
*couldn't have
*couldn't've
One way I look at historic figures for who might and might not been a high functioning autistic individual is to look at how well they may have functioned socially vs. How technical they were.
Take William Bligh for example. He was the captain of the Bounty when the famous mutiny happened. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't some tyrannical captain who was so monstrous that his crew were pushed beyond human dignity. He actually was milder than most captains and had unusual methods of keeping his crew in shape. For example he ordered his crew to dance on a daily basis. Why? Because for prolonged periods of time there was actually minimal activity needed on the ship, so many sailors would be lazy and get out of shape. By having them dance he was trying to keep them in shape to do their jobs when needed.
It worked and it was practical, but it made everyone hate him. He was a highly socially inept man and the mutiny on the bounty was NOT the only mutiny or rebellion he had to deal with.
But... as a sailor he was brilliant. He really did manage to keep his men healthier than normal, and as a navigator he was probably one of the best to have ever lived. No joke. When the crew set him adrift on a raft with the few loyal members with him. He navigated across the open pacific without a map and nonexistent tools, working only by memory and the stars that he had memorized and managed to make a trek of thousands of kilometers to the nearest safe port.
That kind of obsession on detail is not something that comes without being somewhat on the spectrum.
When I think of Autistic people from history I think of Buster Keaton. Buster Keaton was known for his stone cold appearance and there is a lot of evidence that he was Autistic. I also wonder if some of the "witches" in the witch trails were actually just Autistic women.
There are also a plenty of other "might be Autistic" historical figures but it is rather hard to actually make any conclusions especially when you start going back centuries. Everyone from Ada Lovelace to Leonardo da Vinci to Alan Turning. I honesty think there could be a link between Autism and major breakthroughs.
One person I have never really been sure about is Hildegard of Bingen. There isn't a lot to go one but she seemed very dedicated to a few things so maybe.
There's also a hypothesis I've seen floating around that Celtic bards and Nordic Skalds may have had higher rates of autism. Basically the idea is that the requirements for memorizing, maintenance, and application of laws which they kept would be easier for folks with autism.
high functioning autistic
I don't want to seam pedantic. Levels in autism is profoundly discriminatory.
Ok, but it is no secret that there are people with autism that have severe difficulties with basically every task, while there are autistic people who can live their lives with manageable symptoms, and then there are autistic people who have talents neurotypical people can only dream of. I would not call them levels, but there must be a system to discern between those groups, and if it isn't one that is quick and easy, it will probably not be used by the large majority of people. I know that Asperger's is not ok anymore to use, but every other system will have to discern the 3 different groups, or am I mistaken?
I had to clean out my uncle's house when he passed away suddenly. Among many other things, this man had a box full of gum wrappers perfectly folded into little triangles. But don't worry, I've been assured he wasn't autistic, he was just a little antisocial and odd.
my grandpa has a collection of those glass caps they use on power towers
after searching for an image the correct term is "glass insulator for power lines" but I think "glass cap for power tower" sounds funner lol
I have a collection of those silica gel packets I find at clothing stores and supermarkets
I once dragged one of those ceramic powerline insulators across two international borders because I found it lying around and liked how it looked. It took up the majority of the space in my backpack, so I had to buy a second backpack and carry it on the front of my chest lol. Apparently the reason they have that odd shape is so that when it's raining, water can't make a continuous trickle between the wire and the pylon
"Silica gel packets?"
Ohhhh, you mean the DO NOT EAT bags!
DO NOT EAT
You're not my supervisor!
Oooh, like shoe flavor packets?
...where does he keep them? Make sure you wash your hands after touching them!
Those packets are real nice sprinkled on bread rolls btw, also great in most kinds of stir fry / pan fry.
You should know if you have any of those real puffy pink ones, they're particularly good.
I love those things
My father had a workbench drawer marked "Pieces of Wire Too Short to Use."
Mind you, he was an electrician.
Those are for special occasions, like when you're doing electrical work in someone's house who you don't like much and feel like splicing 10 short wires together instead of using a long one.
He also had a drawer labeled "Plastic Shark" that contained one of my old toy sharks.
real conversation:
"back when I was a kid autism didn't exist like you guys!"
"Ma... you're autistic..."
In undergrad I once went back to my dorm room and eagerly showed my roommate the video of Grace Hopper illustrating how long lengths of time are (https://youtu.be/9eyFDBPk4Yw). A little while later, he was talking about this scene and how he likes the writing, because engineers are often much more excited by something seemingly mundane, such as the various lengths of wire needed for a project, than "this is my spaceship."
Anyway, I tell him, completely seriously and with no sense of irony, "yeah, but why would anyone care about lengths of wire?"
He yelled back, "You literally came in here to show me a video about lengths of wire."
Having not seen the subtitle, I thought at first that this was a drawer full of rods and belts and whatever else they used to beat the autism out of kids, back in the day.
Is it Autism or just well organized?
If you're well organized your autistic, if not, you are ADHD. If you fall in the middle, you are both.
I know I'm old man shouting at clouds but it seems like social media is completely focused on classifying. It seems silly. It's like Meyers Briggs personality tests.
My joke in my household is that no clean flat surfaces can exist.
My medicated ADHD ass is still plenty messy, but my non-medicated wife will put any item down in any place when she’s done with it or it’s in her way. Then it disappears from existence for an hour or a month or so. Unless it’s outside or in a room we don’t use daily… then the possible range expands a lot.
And yet, despite people saying what you say, I still struggle far more than neurotypical people and they can't understand why
I am diagnosed with both, and do relate to social media posts regarding the combination of both
Oh sure it can be a problem. My issue is with the endless videos that do nothing but categorize and diagnose.
It's like what if there were endless videos about, "10 signs you are bad at math."
The big problem with ADHD is that every human will experience the symptoms at some point in life.
Every ADHD meme is relatable to pretty much everyone, but they don't understand what it is for those symptoms to basically be your whole existence.
It is beyond exhausting. Nobody takes my serious neurological disorder seriously. I'm nearly thirty and only now I'm starting to get the medical help I would have needed 20, 25 years ago. To think what could have been breaks my heart.
The adhd gives you superpowers memes always makes me want to strangle someone.
Yeah it gives me superpowers like once every few months where for a day or 5 I get a ridiculous amount of work done. The rest of my existence is miserable and I hate myself for not just my lack of work productivity but also how hard it is to get myself to exercise, brush teeth, or just get out of bed. And not a single healthy routine sticks. Only the unhealthy ones. Why is it so easy to pick up smoking again but so hard to do anything that's good for me?
Can confirm. Everything on top of my desk has a specific spot and orientation but anything additional, like important papers placed onto it will disappear from the physical nature of reality and my memory in a very short yet unknown amount of time
I am certified both. Also this is why the term neurodiversity is so much better. Overlap is quite common.
One doesn't require the other, but let's be honest they often travel in the same car
This is how you can spot a non-autistic. For autistics, it's not just about having stuffs organized. It has a purpose and has a sense.
I can see organized things from the NT point of view. But, it's not organized for me at all. The details don't match what would be organized for me. Just as an example.
With autism in general, it's rarely about what it is visible to the NTs. It's about the invisible. Ask the autistic why and validate it. The person will be happy to explain why.
I'm all for ragging on the boomers for the shitstorm of cruelty, greed, and ignorance they've made.
But this is just another era's assorted cables drawer. You might need to rig something 🤷
My grandfather had similar collections. Of anything potentially useful.
I don’t believe in his case it was primarily due to neurodivergence but rather a depression-era childhood.
Could he afford a weed whacker? Yes, but he made one from an old vacuum, even in the 80s/90s. And so on.
Their lives started in poverty and they killed Nazis and we dishonour them horribly when they are barely cold. Especially America who is going to inflict both on everyone again.
It can be both you know
Autistic people tend to do well in tough times. We are pretty resourceful and can make it though.
Does buckets of old nails count? Which are also next to my buckets of old screws.
I do a lot of renovating and construction, some on contract but mostly for myself, and I save so much stuff from my work ... screws, nails, nuts, bolts, washers, wire, scrap wood, scarp plywood, glass, metal, roof tile, rubber products, plastic products, unique rocks, concrete block
I'm indigenous Canadian and I grew up poor in the 80s and I was raised by parents who were born in the wilderness in the 1940s. For a while I saw my grandparents who saw everything new as wondrous and special .... my grandmother saved every plastic bag that was still good and had only been used once. My grandfather collected scrap wood of anything and cobbled them together to build boxes, utensils or just build a hunting shack. I got my habits from my dad who worked every single day and just collected stuff on his way saving everything in case he needed it .... 50% of the it made sense and he did indeed use stuff he had kept around, the other 50% meant he just kept a forever pile of stuff that rusted and deteriorated in the yard.
Which is ironic considering everyone in my extended family knows damned well grandad was autistic af and he's where half the bloody family got it from.
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