My wife recently discovered "Young Sheldon", and one of the most egregious goofs so far is the idea that Sheldon would suffer from stage fright. We both agree that stage fright is something probably only suffered by people who care about the opinions of strangers.
That depends. Us autists tend to get bullied a lot and picked on for anything and everything we do.
Being on a stage means a lot more people see what you do, and what you do wrong, and you'll get a lot more bullying.
And if you're also a perfectionist and feel like you've failed over the tiniest mistakes, this can get even worse.
I — myself autistic — am close to thirty now and I still suffer from extreme social anxiety and stagefright due to the bullying I experienced in school.
There are many reasons why stage fright might happen. One that I suspect is very common, is the desire for excellence.
Young Sheldon was probably very aware that he's not the best at communicating complex thoughts to a broad audience due to his unique, or atypical world view.
He also had a very high bar of personal excellence and would probably feel like a fool if he exposed himself and failed to meet that bar.
There is nuance in "caring about the opinions of strangers". He probably didn't care at all when he was happy about his performance - i.e. it was on them to not understand what he was saying after great thought and probably a very carefully crafted delivery. He probably did care how the others felt when he felt like failed himself by not being up to his own standards.
I don't know what's supposed to be the young Sheldon's diagnosis, but social anxiety is more common among autistic people than neurotypical population.
I have Asperger‘s, and my stage fright depends on what I’m doing. I’ve been a lead singer and guitarist in quite a few bands and I’ve never had stage fright while playing.
But push me to stand up and talk about something and I will freeze and act like a total spaz.
Being on a stage is moving into a situation you are not familiar with, and making a performance, which is different to the general opinion of strangers.
If you rescue someone, that's all about that person's safety - which has got just about zero to do with getting on a stage and making something all about yourself.
