Photographs

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Hi Everyone,

I have been involved with a guy who I believe has AS for a year and a half. One thing that has always been a liite unusual is how much he loves for us to exchange photos of ourselves. I should mention we are in a long distance relationship. At first I was wondering if he was a little vain, but he does not seem that way the more I have gotten to know him.

I recently went to visit him and he pointed out to me a baby picture and another picture of him when he was about 10 on his dresser mirror. He also has kept a name tag from a highschool reunion with his highschool graduation picture on it and made sure to show it to me.

I don't mind that he does this, I'm just curious if this has anything to do with him having a hard time keeping up with the passage of time and these snapshots of history make him realize that time has indeed passed. He also has calendars all over his house so this is kind of how I came up with this theory.

Any thoughts??

I think this may just be an obsessive interest to him, photos and calendars. That's what it sounds like to me. I don't think many people on the autism spectrum have a hard time with noticing the passage of time. Most of us have some obsessive interests though and therefore may collect certain kinds of things that fascinate or interest us. In my case it's anything that has to do with animals. I don't pay much attention to photos and there is no calendar in my house. I notice the passage of time normally and everyone else who I know on the autism spectrum notices it too and doesn't need any visual reminders of it.

He has told me before that sometimes he "zones" out for days and loses track of time. I should have put that in my post. I do think it could be an obsessive interest though and I suppose in a way he uses the pictures like a kid would show and tell at school, they give him something to talk about. I do feel he kind of collects them, he was very pleased that his uncle found the baby picture and gave it to him.

Thank you for your response!

Many of us tend to zone out and lose track of time, usually while we're spending time on our obsessive interests. It happens to me all the time. It's not that we don't know that time passes by in the meantime, it's just that time is moving so fast while we're enjoying our obsessive interests that we don't notice how much time has passed. That happens to all people occasionally while they're having fun, it's just that our obsessive interests can keep us entertained and focused for a longer time than most things that other people enjoy. Some of us may even forget to eat or sleep sometimes while our interests keep us busy.

So I'm pretty sure it's just his obsessive interest. Some people with AS love to talk about their interests and will often bring them up in conversations. Sometimes we think that other people might be interested too, or so we wish.

I collect a lot of things too for memories like concert tickets, movie stubs, and even bus tickets. You can lose track of time by focusing too much on an interest or even because our sense of time may be different. I always feel uneasy about the time because it feels like another time or I think it's one date while it's two weeks behind or forward. This probably has to do with a poor short term memory.

The passage of time theory is interesting. I can't relate but you may be onto something. We don't know this person and everyone with autism/AS has their differences.