Things you didn't comprehend as a child because of autism?

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As a child I just could not accept that my gran was my mother's mother. To me she was a grandmother, not a mother, sister or daughter.

I also used to think that famous people were not real. All they were to me were these objects of entertainment. It took me a long time to realise that they were actually real people.

I guess, when I was a child, I was "the stuff that advertisers dream of"....

There was a kid´s cereal, which I guess was just a bunch of cut up ice cream cone: and on the advertisement on TV, the children would pour the milk on the cereal, and a real ice cream cone (with ice cream on it) would grow out of the cereal. Well, I begged and begged my mother to get this cereal. Finally, she relented. I told my younger brother that when we poured the milk on the cereal, an ice cream cone would appear, because I saw it on TV! We sat, waiting and waiting...I kept saying "any minute now, it´s gonna happen..." Eventually, my mother came in and asked why we weren´t eating our cereal. I said I was waiting for the ice cream cone to appear. When she explained that it was not going to appear, I was so upset....and refused to eat that cereal, ever....which didn´t make my mother too happy, after I had begged her to buy it!

Then, when I was about 11, I saw an advertisement for "sea monkeys". They were little aquatic creatures, which you could send away for; they´d send you the eggs, which you´d put in a fish tank, they´d hatch, and you´d have a new pet. Well, needless to say, I was expecting something like little aquatic monkeys...When they finally hatched, they were just brine shrimp! I was so angry about this! Why didn´t they just specify they were brine shrimp in the first place? I went storming around the house after this, complaining about the fact that I was misled.

I learned a lot about false advertising.

I assumed they looked something like a more realistic version of the cartoon family shown on the packaging...

I never heard of sea monkeys till I saw it in South park but I thought it was made up. I didn't know they were real until I saw them in advertisements in a old comic books from the 1970's. Back then they used to do all these advertisements and you order them from there. Now I don't see that anymore. I thought the sea monkeys were actually real until I asked someone about it. I was not a small child, I was in my late teens. I was in my early 20's I think when I found out.

The thing I couldn't comprehend as a kid was why people would lie. It always shocked me to find out that they had.

The one time I remember best was when a girl in my 4th grade class said she got the highest grades in the class. I was surprised to hear this, because it always seemed to me that she was struggling with things that came easily to me. I remember thinking that I must not be paying proper attention to what was happening with my classmates. I really felt dumb over that.

Then one day, I realized she was lying, and I just couldn't figure it out. Why would she lie about something like that? Did she actually believe it? Was she making up a story so she'd feel good about herself? Was she playing with my head? Did everyone else realize she'd been lying and I was the last to know? Was the joke on me? Did she hate the fact that I got good grades? How could she just stand there with a straight face and say something untrue? Wasn't she afraid of being caught?

I still can't answer these questions with any certainty whatsoever.

There's a few things I believed as a kid:

I had watched TV shows and other stories, so when I saw real pictures of far-away places that actually existed, I still didn't believe they existed. This was because I had neer been the the location to see it myself.

Another one is appropriate for this time of year is related to the Chrismas story. I had heard about Jesus being born in Bethlehem and such, but had not clue it was halfway around the world. There's a "Bethlehem" neighborhood here, it has a hotel in it, and just down the road is an old farmhouse with a barn in the back...I thought that was where Jesus was born!

The last thing that I could never figure out, and still cannot really figure out completely to this day is why humans have "private parts" that must always stay covered at all times. What makes those parts of the body any different than baring an arm or a foot or something? To me, it just didn't seem logical

People also have poor timing concept. They might tell me, "be back in (insert number here) minutes" but don't actually come back in that many minutes. Someone might say "give me (insert number here) minutes" but they are still busy when that many minutes went by. I learned it's not that they are lying, they just have poor timing concept. They were just guessing when they will be done or when they will be back. It's also possible something came up so they were unable to get back and chat to me. I just ask them why they never came back when we talk next time.

What about things that you realized later in life?

I only realized around age 30 that I could(it was possible, permissible) dislike someone purely on personality. They didnt have to do anything to earn that. Up until then, I felt that if I knew someone, I was friends with them. Otherwise we were just acquainted or that I hated them for their previous actions(and this is very rare; I hate nobody currently). I'm not the friendly type, so I wasnt really taken advantage of.

To this day my concept of friendship is shaky. I feel quite equipped to abandon anyone. I do not miss people. Perhaps I will develop that though as I aspie-mature.


I dont remember not understanding that people are real, but to this day I have a hell of a time imagining that they are off doing things outside my sight. If I imagine someone, they are static in the location I know them from; tableau.

I understand that they are real people cognitively, but never think that my (in)actions can have an effect on people who are not present. If something would not make me mad, I always think that others wont mind either.