I’m a middle aged autistic guy and David Bowie always hits the right spots for me. He’s got such an outsider- looking-in perspective to his music that I really think he was a super highly functional autistic who just didn’t give a damn about masking.
I did a lot of therapy and getting misdiagnosed with stuff in my teen years and none of it was helpful. Talk therapy and group therapy actually probably gave me more trauma and drugs for conditions I didn’t have were pretty counter productive. I got a bi-polar diagnosis, did the whole lithium with blood monitoring thing, and hearing in my weekly group therapy the stories real bi polar people were telling was like that scene where Dave Chappelle goes to NA for weed. I’d never had a manic episode in my life. So I told that doctor I was just done and wasn’t coming back to see him again and he was like “That’s a bad decision, you’re going to regret it.” Spoiler: I did not regret it. Finally in my second year of college I had a professor on the spectrum who recognized what was going on with me and he recommended me to the University Mental Health services and gave them some info on me, and I got my diagnosis. It was actually a huge relief to finally understand what was going on, and knowing I am autistic gave me tools to better understand myself and my learning and socializing issues, but other than that, it hasn’t made a huge difference. I generally need some small accommodations at work but nothing major, and if I have to work closely with other people in group settings I like to let them know in case I do or say something puzzling to the normies, but other than that, it’s basically just nice to have an explanation, the knowledge to lean into my strengths and avoid my weaknesses, and stay out of overstimulation/highly social/meltdown causing situations.
When my band plays we get mobbed afterwards with people wanting to talk to us, buy us drinks, etc. I usually stick around for about half an hour then ghost out, disappear, and go home. I’m single, but not interested in dating, and it always makes the other guys in the band laugh at how that drives the ladies crazy. And some of the men too lol.
Wow. Watching reddit melt down has been amazing. I really don’t even care but the popcorn has been so tasty. This news is a caramel coated popcorn ball all by itself.