Redefining Fun for Autistic Adults
3 min readOct 5, 2022
Our neurotypical culture holds a pretty narrow view on what constitutes fun. Most depictions of “fun” include a group of people doing something together. Some examples include:
- Sitting around and talking and laughing with a group
- Going to parties
- Playing games in a group
- Getting drunk with others
- Dancing with others
- Doing something spontaneous or reckless with a group
- Going on adventures with people
In contrast, activities done alone are seldom depicted as “fun.” They’re shown as solitude, obsession, or some other emotion.
- A peaceful walk on the beach
- A possessed painter who stays up late into the night making their next painting
- A workaholic who works too much outside of work
- A solitary knitter who quietly makes her next creation while watching a show
They’re seldom depicted as fun.
Before I knew I’m autistic, I thought I needed more people in my life to have more fun. I thought I needed to find people willing to do the hobbies and random passions that I have. I knew I could peaceful or content on my own … but fun?! That took people.
Turns out though, it doesn’t. It simply takes reframing fun.
It suddenly dawned on me recently, when I wrote a letter to the emotion Joy…
