Aspies For Freedom

A Naughty Girl???


When I was about 12, I spent a week at a friend’s place. She was in my year at school and her parents owned a resort and caravan park at Horseshoe Bay in Bowen.

We mostly had a fun time but I did a couple of things that I now realise were very naughty but at the time I didn’t understand.

I was really mad about insects, spiders, caterpillars and other creatures. One day we went rock-climbing and I found a whole nest of baby caterpillars. I put them in the room I shared with my friend, Catherine, and went looking for a suitable container to place them in.

Unfortunately, around that time, I got distracted as we were asked if we wanted to have a boat trip to look at the other bays in Bowen. Of course we did. Meanwhile, the caterpillars got out and wandered all around the room.

When we got home, there was a bit of a ruckus and my friend’s mother was cross about something and telling off the young girl who helped with the housekeeping but at the time, I didn’t know what was going on.

A couple of days later, I found some very pretty jewelled spiders and brought some into the bedroom and put them in a container. Unfortunately, they got out. This time, I heard my friend’s mother talking about getting pest exterminators in and I had this horrible sinking feeling that it was something to do with the spiders.

I was just sitting on a sofa when my friend’s mum and the housekeeper were talking a little distance away. My friend’s mum said to me “Excuse me while I talk to Trish for a minute”.

I only reacted to the first bit – I’d been taught that you excused yourself if you burped or wanted to walk past someone. As neither of these seemed to have happened, I just sat there.

Then she said “Excuuuuse Me!” I got very embarrassed as I knew I was in trouble but didn’t understand why. I wanted to explain that it wasn’t the housekeeper’s fault about the bugs and spiders – it was mine, but at the same time, I was scared I’d be sent home. Even so, I didn’t want the girl to be sacked because of me. I also was sad about the spiders being sprayed with poison.

I don’t know what happened in the end and maybe none of the family realised how the bugs got into the house but I’ve learned that this kind of thing is very typical of the misunderstandings that can occur between ASD children and neurotypical adults.

I was confused there for a minute. I thought you meant that you put some spider-shaped jewels in a container, but  obviously jewelled spider is a type of spider.

I never did anything in another persons house without asking if it was ok first. That seemed to keep me out of trouble.

Well, once I got into my best friend's house at an age between 3 to 6(that was the time lived in Belgium, I am norwegian). Without them knowing it, so I sneaked onto the second floor. No-one had noticed me as I know of. There was this toy I envied my friend for having. So I played a little with it. I heard some shouting from the ground floor where the parents of my friend asked him to stop playing with his toy. I was only going to try this toy once more, then it broke. I aint sure of how it ended but I think I got out of the house without anyone noticing me.

Bob, that was my point. I was so Aspie I didn't know you weren't supposed to bring animals into someone else's house without asking.

I knew to ask first because I had some cautious friends and whenever they came over to my house they would always ask me whether something was ok first before they did something. If I asked them why they asked they would always say it was rude not to.

I used to live near a some bushland. It was a new suburb. One day whilst walking through the bush me and my friend found an abandoned car in the middle of the bush. We decided to play with on and in it. All the neighbourhood kids joined in. Put simply a wrecking yard couldn't have done a better job of completely obliterating the car.
Again I heard adult's speaking about "such and such's"car found after it was stolen and trashed and how they caught the little bastards who stole and smashed up the car. It didn't make sense until years later. I felt really bad then but said nothing. Gawd it was someone's family car!
So in short I know what you mean.

tenaciouscj--
heh, I've been in those kind of situations before, but with one tiny difference: whatever I was doing that was inappropriate, I knew it was, but I just did it anyway and hoped I didn't get caught.  For example: climbing over a fence to get into a horse pasture.  I didn't know whose horses they were--they certainly weren't mine--but I wanted to pet them.  I've done that several times actually, and also got in trouble for it several times.  I did the same thing with cows.  Come to think of it, I seem to have a problem with that--touching other people's animals without permission.  I just can't resist.  And on top of that, I don't really see animals as "belonging" to anyone.  That's the difference between me and most people.  Animals can't really "belong" to anyone except themselves.  I guess that's why I have this pattern of behavior.  And of course, I've let plenty of wild animals in the house before and got in trouble for it.
You know what else?  I've been in trouble for letting dogs do things they "shouldn't" do.  Like letting their leashes go when they see something they want to chase.  Why not let them hunt things?  That's what makes them happy.  The dogs' people got pretty pissed, though.

Here's the basic rule of thumb that I live by:  don't ask permission cuz they might say no.  Just ask forgiveness later.

Yeah, that's me too!

Makes sense.