I believe that we autistic folks may struggle with a delusion of permanence. It has been documented that autistics struggle with something ending perhaps more than NTs. All people want, at times, for something to not end. All humans go through a stage of feeling invincible. We cannot see ourselves ending or dying. Later, we gain enough wisdom to understand that we all die.
With the above in mind, here are a couple of permanence delusions that I struggle with: I find myself thinking about an old friend and I think about contacting then, without understanding that they were my friend 60 years ago and that I haven’t had contact with them since! I don’t seem to be able to envision that we are not friends. This view holds for all the friends I have had over the years. Then there is my seeming inability to understand change in aspects of social behaviour. It appears that I keep thinking everyone sees the world in the same way as I do. WHOOPSIE! Now that’s a potent delusion.
I believe that these delusions come out of a way that I, as an autistic, cognitively construct my mental world. My view is based on what we would call an egocentric view of the world. The weakened ability to view the world from another’s point of view seems to be an issue. This point of view is strong amongst autistic folks. Any feedback on this issue would be most appreciated.
THE AGEING AUTISTIC 