Celebrating Halloween as a autistic Adult
StampySquiddyFan
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Joined: 19 Jul 2017
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,754
Location: Stampy's Lovely World
Really? That's so cool. I wish I could wear my costume to school!
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Hi! I'm Stampy (not the actual YouTuber, just a fan!) and I have been diagnosed professionally with ASD and OCD and likely have TS. If you have any questions or just want to talk, please feel free to PM me!
Current Interests: Stampy Cat, AGT, and Medicine
That is not just out of my comfort zone, it is out of my interest. I have strong disinterest in loud music or drinking alcohol.
I prefer to go to fall festivals, maize mazes, and haunted houses. My favorite is at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. I also like reading scary fairy tales and horror stories, watching classic Halloween themed cartoons, and eating chocolate Halloween candy.
Do whatever YOU enjoy, ZombieBrideXD.
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31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.
Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)
"I am silently correcting your grammar."
Yeah
i mean
its not like thats difficult at all for many autistic people
O WAIT
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Obsessing over Sonic the Hedgehog since 2009
Diagnosed with Aspergers' syndrome in 2012.
Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1 severity without intellectual disability and without language impairment in 2015.
DA: http://mephilesdark123.deviantart.com
That is not just out of my comfort zone, it is out of my interest. I have strong disinterest in loud music or drinking alcohol.
I prefer to go to fall festivals, maize mazes, and haunted houses. My favorite is at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. I also like reading scary fairy tales and horror stories, watching classic Halloween themed cartoons, and eating chocolate Halloween candy.
.
But not trick-or-treating.
We don't celebrate halloween so much over here in the UK. Sometimes kids go trick or treating, but it's not a huge thing. Some adults have halloween parties, which are pretty cool, but that's about it. Otherwise, halloween is just one day. Christmas on the other hand, is the biggest holiday in the UK. It practically starts in November.
How can you love the autumn? Ugh!! Autumn's my worst time of the year. I love the spring, because of the lovely flowers coming out, and the days are getting longer. Roll on March!
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BirdInFlight
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Joined: 8 Jun 2013
Age: 62
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,501
Location: If not here, then where?
I agree that ZombieBride should do whatever she enjoys doing; personally I have no problem with a 19 year wanting to trick or treat.
It's just that she said there is some kind of local ordinance where she lives, that has said people above 16 are not permitted to trick or treat.
I think that's overly harsh, but my suggestion that perhaps she could act as a "guardian" adult to some kids means she could still get to be part of the trick or treating without getting fined or something.
I remember being in high school (age 16-ish), and trick-or-treating with my friends. I was shocked when someone told me that I was too old.
Also costumes plus your romantic partner? Or costumes plus a party? This is a no loose situation.
If someone has a costume, rings my door, says the magic words, then they get candy.
That is not just out of my comfort zone, it is out of my interest. I have strong disinterest in loud music or drinking alcohol.
I prefer to go to fall festivals, maize mazes, and haunted houses. My favorite is at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. I also like reading scary fairy tales and horror stories, watching classic Halloween themed cartoons, and eating chocolate Halloween candy.
.
But not trick-or-treating.
I miss trick-or-treating, but my neighborhood does not really get into it anymore (not enough kids), except for one neighbor who has created an awesome haunted maze in her back yard this year. I hope I can see it when it is finished before I move.
_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.
Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)
"I am silently correcting your grammar."
jrjones9933
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Joined: 13 May 2011
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,144
Location: The end of the northwest passage
Halloween lasts the entire month of October. I'd love to reduce Xmas to a week, but that's not happening.
Moral panic interferes with adult trick-or-treating. I guess, like sand, moral panic gets into everything. Statistically, household members pose far more of a danger to children than random strangers. If parents have irrational fears about their children, that's normal but they really ought to deal with it for the best interests of the child.
If a bunch of grinches steal Halloween, when can adults play dress-up? We're not all cut out for LARPing!
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"I find that the best way [to increase self-confidence] is to lie to yourself about who you are, what you've done, and where you're going." - Richard Ayoade
I love everything about halloween and celebrate it from october 1st to October 31st. i watch halloween related movies,decorate attend halloween parties, dress up, eat halloween themed treats and most importantly i trick or treat. Although i saw something in the news that really broke my heart..
In my province a city passed a bylaw stating that children only under 16 are permitted to go trick or treating. Which i deem EXTREMELY unfair.
im 20 and have never missed a halloween. as you can imagine i panicked but was slightly relieved to read that it wasn't in my community, but i still feel uneasy.
I know some older teens and adults look to cause trouble on halloween night or mooch off just "free candy" but i have never done anything bad during halloween, i never even stayed past curfew!
Does any other autistic adult here share my struggle? Its a annual tradition for me and it makes me really happy to go. i dont feel im too old at all to go out door to door. I even have a costume already; Velma from scooby Doo!
I love Halloween just as much as you do. I agree with you--everything about the holiday is great. But I think you should stop trick or treating. Its a kids thing, and it can be just as much fun to be the candy giver (I love this on Halloween day). As a fellow Aspie I can understand you liking something that NTs would see as childish, but in the view of NT adults they would see you as at best immature and possibly having mental problems and at worst a potential pedophile. NT adults are obsessed with the idea that pedos lurk in every playground and are just waiting to grab and rape their kids, ignoring the fact that in the majority of cases its a priest, uncle, teacher, or other person known to the victim that does this.
I'm with the OP and Stampy - I really miss trick-or-treating and wish adults could as well! One thing I've tried to do is hand out candy as it at least still gets the atmosphere. When I've lived places where I didn't get trick-or-treaters (ie. as I was in an apartment), I went to a colleague's place who owned a house and passed out candy there I'm looknig forward to this year as my new place gets trick-or-treaters! But do wish I could still go myself!
jrjones9933
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Joined: 13 May 2011
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,144
Location: The end of the northwest passage
Handing out candy seems like a great way to stay in the game and avoid the overwhelming social disapproval. I hope your experience goes better than mine. You'll probably want to live on a street where everyone hands out candy. Trick or treaters seem to maximize their net gain very rationally. I was just about a block off one such street, but no other houses in between had candy, and I got two families all night. This was after setting up the fog machine and the theremin and buying loads of candy, including fruit sours which I despise because people like them. Anyway, I hope you can maximize your return on investment as someone handing out candy, and participate in the energy of the event from the allowable adult side.
If you don't have access to a house on a popular street, these days in the US, you don't have a lot of options for getting into the spirit of trick-or-treating. I like adult Halloween parties, too, but they have a completely different tone.
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"I find that the best way [to increase self-confidence] is to lie to yourself about who you are, what you've done, and where you're going." - Richard Ayoade
I stopped caring about Halloween (or any worldwide celebratory phenomenon for that matter) years ago. It's been overly commercialized to the point of nearly driving me insane.
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“They laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at them because they're all the same.”
― Kurt Cobain
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