Shortly before his initial diagnosis of autism, we had taken Eric to Sesame Place, a Sesame Street theme park in Pennsylvania. One of the events we thought
would be
fun for Eric was a live show featuring Elmo --silly us. We arrived close to show-time and ended standing in the back of an auditorium packed with over a hundred jumping, screaming, pre-schoolers eagerly awaiting their number one muppet while speakers were blasting sing-along tunes. With stage lights flashing, and an eruption of delighted squeals, an adult dressed as Elmo leaped onto the stage. And Eric burst out crying. So loudly that even in
this audience, a few parents turned around and took notice. We didn't understand why it was that all the other kids were completely wowed, except for Eric. Was it the noise? The lights? The crowd? Ten years later, I asked teenage Eric what it was that freaked him out that day. He replied very matter-o-factly, "I thought Elmo looked like a scary monster."
2 comments:
Eric is the opposite of me on this on. As a little Aspie I loved people dressed up as animals..ect because they didn’t have human eyes that I had to make contact with and them just seemed more friendly because they were often furry and soft. My parents thought it was really weird because a lot of other children would cry and scream when they saw someone dressed up as an animal, but I’d go running and laughing to them and give them a hugs and they often had trouble getting me away from them .They were just so darn soft and fuzz I didn’t want to stop hugging them and I thought learn were awesome looking. Thanks for sharing this! Miriam M.
Thanks Miriam for sharing a fresh perspective. Your comment made me think about how I used to view things. But I drew a blank! I just don't remember seeing any costume characters in my early childhood. Maybe a clown. Hmm.
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