Let’s talk about autistic enthusiasm
Okay, what I really mean is let ME talk about autistic enthusiasm! And then please tell me if you experience this too?
Even the thought of writing about this topic enthuses me. I love researching, investigating, learning, discovering, digging around. Get me started on some topic or other — although it has to be something I’m interested in!—and I will gather enough information to write a dissertation on it.
Which is why, when the topic of autism came up in my family as a real and present thing, I did some frenzied research that left me giddy with delight. I was giddy with delight because the more I learned, the more I saw myself, and the more I learned the more I wanted to learn. I listened to podcasts, read books, websites, attended online seminars, talked to anyone who would listen and listened to anyone who would talk. Can you imagine my delight when I learned that my giddy researching was yet another autistic trait?! Oh the joy!
When I was little, I loved learning everything about dinosaurs. Later, Greek myths, then King Henry VIII (I was fascinated by the gruesome ends his wives met!). Then in my early teens I went full-on Tolkien-obsessed, to the point of memorising the Elvish poem Ah Elbereth Gilthoniel and coming up with an ‘Elvish’ alphabet with my friends which we used to send each other coded messages. Philosophy was next on my list (my degree), then scuba diving (I became an instructor), and after that I became a sub-editor on DIVE magazine. Another joy as I had to learn so much, magazine journalism, writing, sub-editing, proof-reading, how to use various computer programmes… it was a happy time.
Fast forward to later life after having kids and I dedicated myself to children’s books. After about eight or nine years of no real success I didn’t give up, though! I just dedicated myself enthusiastically to learning EVEN more, to gathering more and more knowledge and skills until I was ready to work full time as a children’s book illustrator and here I am.
I firmly believe that all the successful career moments in my life so far have been at least in part down to that autistic enthusiasm. Friends and family have told me they’d have given up ages ago, others have even suggested that ‘perhaps it’s time to call it a day’ but that’s just not something I can do if I’m passionate about something.
Similarly, when it came to researching autism, some people warned me off doing so. They were worried I’d find information to match my own personality and behaviour and so decide I was autistic when I wasn’t. Others seemed to think that I might get lost in the ‘autistic community’ and end up being ‘more autistic’ because of it (and what would be wrong with that, exactly? was my thought). Fervent researching makes you come across as a bit mad it seems. Obsessed. Which it is, in reality. But when I was researching children’s illustration no one worried about me. It was only when I was researching autism that people got concerned about where it might lead.
Listening to a podcast (Autistic Woman, it’s brilliant!) alerted me to the idea that autistic people might make good researchers. It got me to thinking about types of jobs autistic people might prove to be especially good at, because of this autistic enthusiasm for gathering information and knowledge. Being a journalist, a scientist, a lawyer, a writer are just some examples of where you need to be good at gathering information, whether it’s via studies or observation of people, where you need to learn the language and structure of the role, and where it’s possible to immerse yourself entirely in that ‘world’. Perfect for that autistic enthusiasm.
What other careers or roles might autistic enthusiasm be good for? There are probably many more. I also think that my autism has helped me become a successful children’s illustrator… which is another topic I’d love to write about and will.
