My son loves to info-dump, which is a beautiful Autistic trait. On our walks, he talks all things Minecraft and I listen. Without fail, he’ll check in on my interest - today imploring me to pursue the goal of running a full marathon, “We can’t hide from our dreams forever, Mom.”
So much of the therapeutic advice for Autistic people - particularly targeted towards younger Autistics, is to make them to conform to our weird normal. And our normal is weird. Small talk is super weird.
Honestly, it makes perfect sense that when you’re connecting with someone you’d want to share what you love, what makes you happy. For my son, that’s Minecraft and farming and pasta. We have a 5km route around our neighbourhood where we do our “walk and talks”.
Over time, I’ve worked in the advice that when he’s with me, all rules are out the door. He can relax and just talk forever about his interests, but with newer friends, it’s nice to check in with them to see how they’re enjoying the conversation and to see if they’d like to share
He understands this. And during our walks, around the 3km mark, he’ll look at me and ask if I need a break from talking about Minecraft. He’ll ask me how work is. How my running is going. Or just “how’s life, mom?”
Today, he remembered that I’d shared with him a few weeks back how I was wavering on whether to run a full marathon in the spring. I’d never run one. I started running late in life. Would it be ridiculous? At the time he didn’t say much, but he stored it away.
So this afternoon, as we walked along the water, after he told me all about The Nether in Minecraft, he checked in with me on where I stood with my internal debate. “We can’t hide from our dreams forever.”
This thread is sorely lacking in a point, much like our walk and talks, but if I had to find an overarching message it would be to meet people where they are. Give them patience, security and respect. You just may be gifted with the purest love and deepest connection in return.
I love him and seeing his intelligence, compassion and confidence is my greatest dream. 
About Info Dumping autisticrights.net/2020/07/16/inf…
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