What's something you wish more people understood about having ASD?
For me the list is fairly easy
-ASD mean that there's a difference between how I see myself and how people see me so I don't always see how action A will lead to consequence B
I often experience a disconnect between how I view me and how people view me. ***. I automatically think other people see the things I say and do the same way I do and miss how what I'm saying or doing come across or how others may view it.
-ASD means that I can go into emotional overload and pull an ASD doorslam
Emotionally charged situations [especially conflicts] tend to give me an emotional overload so I often pull what I call an ASD doorslam and cut myself off from the person causing me to be emotionally overwhelmed, and self-isolate with people who make me feel safe. People think it's because I hate them, or don't care about them when it's not really the case. Sometimes I just need space to process events and regulate my own emotions. I'm not the kind of person who can just automatically deal with conflict when it happens. I need time for reflection and I'm slower to see other peoples views. But it doesn't mean I'm incapable of seeing things from other's perspective. It just means it takes time.
-ASD means I have a unique brand of empathy
The way I view people isn't neurotypical but it doesn't mean I don't care. I can be sympathetic but not exactly empathetic, or sometimes vise versa. I go through these on and off periods of caring for someone to an insane degree and not caring for someone? Also while I don't view people as objects I have a *special* preconceptions about who they are supposed to be and how they fit into my inner-world if that makes sense? And if they don't fit that mold it can be confusing and overwhelming for me. Another thing I wish they understood is that sometimes I form attachments to people not exactly because of who they are but I get attached to their place in my world and form a rhythm in how I interact with them and get attached to that rhythm? But at the same time it doesn't mean I don't care about them at all, or use them.
-ASD means I won't automatically understand things
Given the way my brain works, I'm not good at filling in the blanks. I don't always get that A leads to B. Sometimes I'm only seeing A, or I'm only seeing B or sometimes I think B is actually C or A is actually D. Sometimes you'll have to be patient with me and explain.
Finally and the number 1 thing I wish people understood...
-I have extreme anxiety about the way people see me
Oh my goshhhhh the world would be a tremendously better place if more people understood that I can get emotionally overwhelmed in situations neurotypical people can handle, and that I have severe anxiety about the way people see me. It's not so much that I don't want to socialize, I'm perfectly capable of that, it's just that I can get severely self-conscious about other peoples opinion of me, that, and I socialize in a way neurotypicals don't.
Don't get me wrong imao, I'm shy as a fawn, but give me a chance to talk about my interests, or give me a social pattern I'm familiar with and I'll talk nonstop :P
Anyway yeah, that's my two cents on what I wish more people understood about having ASD :P
