Aspergers Syndrome and cats
Cats…..It’s widely known that people with aspergers often love cats.
I’ll start with my own opinion – I have been obsessed with cats ever since I little I’ve still got cuddly cat toys too! (I had a lot when I was younger)
I’m not sure what drew me to them initially as a little girl, they were a very early obsession of mine.. getting to know a pet cat as a little kid opened me up to this cute little comforting life form.As I can only speak for myself, I have asked others on the specrum what they think of our sof pawwed friends.
The gentle rumble of a cats purr, the soft fur the cuddly creature both two comforting things. I get a sense of relaxation and calmness from cats, it counteracts those opposite feelings of sensory overload and other stressful aspects of a stressful life which people with aspergers live with.
One member of an Aspergers message board says “I like cats because of their independence” Which is fair enough, as everyone, person and animal, needs it’s alone time.
Upon asking several other members, I came to the conclusion that a lot of aspies love them for the particular reasons that I stated, and because we feel we can relate to them..
A video of me about…… cats!
Tags: aspergers syndrome
July 9th, 2011 at 5:05 am
You’ve got great insights about Aspergers, keep up the good work!
August 9th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Very ineresting. My 32 year old daughter is an aspie. She likes cats. I didn’t know that was an aspie trait. I see you have a lot of the same interests as her. I am not sure when she found out she was an aspie. I think she was past 20. She liked to hug me til she was 13. Then, she prefered to hug guys her own age. I never noticed and aversion to eye contact. I never noticed any rocking back and forth or other beheavioral repeating.
I have a background in pychology and education. I never could teach her anything as she claimed that she learned things differently. She has been going to college and working since she was 16. She has taken a lot of classes that didn’t count towards her major. So, she still has 5 classes to take to get a BA degree. Because of the lack of a lot of the autism traits that I know, I have never been sure she was an aspie.