The world is a harsh place. Bringing kindness into what we say, how we say it and our actions can make a significant difference to others’ lives.
Before starting, I want to distinguish between being kind in our daily interactions—even if it is just smiling at a cashier—and random acts of kindness: those special moments when we choose to do something unexpected for others. Being kind typically involves interacting with people on some level, and for autistic people this usually comes with stress—especially if those people are not close. Anonymous acts of kindness offer a unique kind of fulfilment: the warm feeling of making someone’s day better without any social pressure or need to navigate their response.
For example, I would love to give items to a charity store, but the thought of dealing with the people and social interactions is daunting. So how can we perform random acts of kindness and avoid people? In this post, I want to give you some ideas.
Ideas That Cost a Little
- Leave a tin of biscuits or snacks in a shared kitchen or staff room.
- Donate new items in drop-off bins—sometimes you’ll find these for food, pet food, or school stationery.
- Buy and leave hygiene products in a public bathroom with a kind note.
- Buy someone’s coffee via a pay-it-forward board—many cafés have boards where you can anonymously prepay for drinks. You can simply add money to the system without needing to speak to anyone about who it’s for. Or, leave money to pay (anonymously) for someone else in the queue.
- Leave some change in a vending machine with a note: “Your snack’s on me!” or pay for someone’s parking by topping up a meter or leaving coins nearby.
- Buy a magazine or newspaper and leave it in a waiting area.
- Leave a preloaded transit card or gift card at a station or café—place these in visible spots (like on a café table or station bench) and walk away—no interaction required with staff or recipients.
- Leave flowers on a stranger’s doorstep or park bench.
- Place wildflower seeds in neglected patches of land.
- Make an anonymous donation—most charities accept online donations where you can choose to remain anonymous, avoiding phone calls or in-person visits entirely.
Ideas That Cost Nothing
- Leave anonymous feedback—many shops and restaurants have online feedback forms or physical suggestion boxes, allowing you to share positive comments without speaking to anyone face-to-face.
- If you enjoy something on social media, like it—it makes the creator feel good and helps promote them. The online world is tough.
- Leave inspiring chalk messages on a sidewalk (e.g., “You are enough”).
- Write positive notes or affirmations and leave them in books at the library or bookstore.
- Add a book to a “little library”—these community book exchanges are completely self-service with no supervision. You can simply open the door, add your book, and leave whenever you want.
- Leave a magazine or book on a public bench or in a waiting area.
- Return stray shopping trolleys to their bays.
- Donate second-hand items to charity via drop-off bins.
- Let a bug or spider outside instead of squashing it.
- Leave out water for wildlife, like a shallow dish for bees or birds.