The Liver Bird, Carlsberg & Autistic Thinking
As a child during the 1980s I loosely followed both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs. Growing up in West Yorkshire and having no family connection to either Liverpool or Nottingham, I can’t say why those teams. I do remember having some plastic table placemats around the same time, and my chosen favourite was always the Notts Forest one. As the years progressed Forest faded away but I always stayed loyal to Liverpool F.C., even buying a few of their shirts throughout the 90s, helped along in the wave of popularity of sporty spice.
I never visited Liverpool until last year. I was equal parts excited, anxious and overwhelmed as I always am when embarking on any trip or staying away from home. By my second day there, I had started to settle and have some coherent thought processes of things I may want to do. So, I decided to Google where I would be most likely to see Liver Birds. I scanned through the answers- the Royal Liver building features two large bronze birds, the museum of Liverpool has one in its collection, Liverpool central station features a modern statue, St. Nicholas place has a statue close to waterfront, and so on.
I imagine reading this you know where I am heading, so just to give context and some defence of myself, I have prepared the following statement-
I would consider myself to have reasonable intelligence. When not rendered near mute by anxiety, I can hold a conversation on most current affairs, general knowledge, etc. And, on any subject I have ever taken an interest in, I can bleat statistics and information at you whether you want it or not.
However, I was immediately puzzled as to why Google was only telling me about statues. I wanted to see live Liver Birds. Therefore, upon further research and discovery of the truth, I was filled with disappointment and a genuine feeling that some sort of injustice had been thrust upon me.
The Liver Bird was in fact an 800-year-old mythical symbol of Liverpool. Mythical. Bloody mythical. As I continued to research, which almost derailed day two of the trip entirely, it became glaringly obvious. Of course the damn bird is mythical. I mean it looks like a cross between a dragon and a griffin (and yes I was aware of the alive, dead, extinct, or mythical status of both).
What this whole thing did was remind me of the numerous times I have had similar experiences. Something that has been obvious or common knowledge to every other adult has baffled and bewildered me upon discovery (KFC gravy is chicken gravy and not beef gravy is another example).
As an autistic person, my navigation of people and the world around me is a constant work in progress. I know that as humans, we are learning all the time, and that is a natural state of being. However, there are an extra few layers to navigate through when you have an autistic-ly wired brain.
I mentioned Carlsberg in the title of this post. Just an afterthought and general wondering about growing up seeing Carlsberg as the sponsor of Liverpool F.C. on all those shirts and one of the long-term early lagers of choice for me being Carlsberg…
4 February 2026
Average Autistic In Recovery 