What can someone do to help an Autistic person? Explain yourself as if you are talking to a classroom of adults. Please don\\\’t be condescending as they might have twice the intelligence as you no matter how old they are, or not. Explain why you want something done. Reason is the reason Autistic people get jammed up with neurotypical humans.
Sometimes people expect or assume that I understand what they say or mean when I haven\\\’t a clue. They are obscure about their intentions or open to interpretation. \\\”Get rid of that\\\” is one example.
Do I throw it away, put it away, or give it away? Should I drive it off a cliff? So many possibilities. I hyper-analyze everything people say to translate in a way I understand. If it is not literal and I am expected to know or to read between the lines – I can\\\’t. Although I am quicker at pinpointing the intention with experience behind me, I still cannot understand people\\\’s implied and unspoken instructions.
I do my best to translate in a way that makes sense to me. If it didn\\\’t make sense it would take me longer to process. Why would they want me to get rid of that? Eventually it would lead to blind compliance and I got rid of that by throwing it away. Sometimes I would be correct, sometimes I would be wrong and reprimanded. That causes anxiety anytime someone asks me to do something.
\\\”Get rid of that before someone gets hurt. That has caused injury to many people. Throw it in the trash carefully.\\\” No assumptions, no misunderstanding, no worries. From the Autistic point of view: No interpretation required, clear reasoning that makes sense, clear direction as to what to do.
