This is weird for me to read because years ago I met someone like this, and it always puzzled me. He just came up to me downtown one night and started chatting. He struck me as a little out there, kind of hippy-dippy. Seemed in good spirits. One of my neighbors knew him from a party. We all hung out with a few other people I didn't know. (At which time a middle-aged preacher uppercut a 6'5' drunk fireman so hard his feet left the ground and he landed on his head.) He crashed at my apartment. We hung out again the next day, and then he just disappeared.
I didn't think much of it. I'd 'come up' with a bunch of neurotypical 'transients' with sad family lives who partied and crashed where they could.
A couple of years later I thought maybe I'd look him up. I found a few news articles stating he (an adult) was "missing", autistic, and "ran away" from his "caregiver." Stated that he "functioned at a 12-year-old level." The autism part maybe explained some eccentricity, but I could not square that last part with the person I'd met. He seemed to know what he was doing (?) Based on the articles, he'd run away at least twice. No mention of parents, only a "caregiver."
It was just weird. He was very, very chill, and very chatty. He didn't seem in distress. I suppose one could recast my first impression of rambling free-spiritedness as "functioning at the level of a 12-year-old"...? Just odd. I never did find a way to contact him.
I didn't think much of it. I'd 'come up' with a bunch of neurotypical 'transients' with sad family lives who partied and crashed where they could.
A couple of years later I thought maybe I'd look him up. I found a few news articles stating he (an adult) was "missing", autistic, and "ran away" from his "caregiver." Stated that he "functioned at a 12-year-old level." The autism part maybe explained some eccentricity, but I could not square that last part with the person I'd met. He seemed to know what he was doing (?) Based on the articles, he'd run away at least twice. No mention of parents, only a "caregiver."
It was just weird. He was very, very chill, and very chatty. He didn't seem in distress. I suppose one could recast my first impression of rambling free-spiritedness as "functioning at the level of a 12-year-old"...? Just odd. I never did find a way to contact him.