I did a poll a few days ago on Twitter using the #AskingAutistics hashtag asking how autistic people feel about animals in comparison to humans. 32% of participants said that they like both humans and animals, with the other 68% indicating that they much prefer animals over people. That's near enough 2 in 3 people that don't like humans. Interestingly, nobody said they don't like animals. In my own personal experience I find that animals are non-judgmental, and as someone who was horrendously bullied at school and college the company of animals was a distraction and a huge escape for me. Animals don't judge you on whether you're overweight or autistic or anything like that. They'll only judge you on either how you are with them, or how they've been treated by humans in the past.
I grew up with loads of different animals as pets - dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, birds, crabs, lizards - you name it, I probably had it. The companionship side of things also played a huge factor, especially with my 2 dogs Henry and Mitzi that I had from when I was a toddler to me being about 16. With my difficulty in making friends I'm really glad that I grew up with at least 2 furry faces that were happy to see me every time I came home from school regardless of whether I was happy or sad.
One of the common difficulties seen in autism is in communication, especially when it comes to body language, reading between the lines, sarcasm and so on. With animals all these things are either easier to read or not applicable. If a dog comes bounding up to you wagging its tail it's quite clearly happy to see you and wants a fuss. A dog won't give you a sarcastic tail wag. Whereas if somebody talks to an autistic person we can't always tell if they mean what they're saying, what their reasons are for talking to you etc. This makes interaction with animals much simpler. Granted, we can't always tell what an animal wants or how it feels but they're a different species from us so there's going to be some form of language barrier regardless. Communicating with humans can often feel like communicating with a different species but with the difficulty ramped up.
Anxiety also plays a factor in communication, whether that's anxiety from the fact that you're speaking to somebody, from the situation, or from the environment that you find yourself in at the time. Lots of people (myself included) have social anxiety so I find that talking to people too much or for too long makes me nervous - particularly in one to one scenarios where all of the other person's attention is focused on me all of the time. Dealing with animals presents a much, much lower level of anxiety, unless of course you're phobic towards a certain type of animal. I don't always know what my cat or my rats want or how they feel, but because I don't have the anxiety with them that I would have with human interaction it's a hell of a lot easier to enjoy their company. And that goes for any other animals as well. The reduced anxiety also lets me pay more attention to what's actually going on with them and potentially notice any small details such as changes in behaviour or any physical symptoms that might need attention. It's also not uncommon for an autistic person to have a support animal to help ease their anxieties and keep them calm.
As well as those differences between dealing with people and dealing with animals I do view every life as valuable, although I find animals much more deserving of it than human beings as a whole. As a species we've got morals and ethics, and an awareness of the world around us as a bigger picture. With that awareness comes responsibility that we really need to live up to but often don't. Not only have we got a responsibility to the environment and to animals, but we've got a responsibility to each other that we neglect all too often. The way I look at it is that animals don't have that awareness or responsibility, so that gives them a degree of innocence and purity that we've not been living up to.
So there are my personal reasons for my love of animals rather than people. The comments from my Twitter poll didn't give much to go on in terms of reasons for people's preferences but there's definitely a clear love of animals within the autistic community, which in my estimation can only be a good thing. Let me know how you feel about animals, and I'll leave you with a photo of Spout and Parsnip.
I grew up loving my pets too, though mine were outdoor animals. I used to curl up in the goat shed with the lovely Heidi, a big white darling goat who I used to walk on a lead like a dog. She was fab.
ReplyDeleteI've had rats over the last few years too. Rats are fantastic pets and I miss them terribly. My dog has been with me for 12 years throughout terrible times and my son has grown up with him. He's my absolute rock I adore him. Relationships with animals arent based on nuance, or status, or "unspoken rules", or jusgememt or assumptions - all of which trip autistic people up. You can sit with them and let the vibes and the body language do the talking. All they need is kindness and mutual respect.
Yup animals are the best.
Very informative - thank you for sharing!
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