NeurobeautifulSome insults are as easy to spot as a villain announcing their evil plans. Other insults are more subtle and insidious.
Here’s one: Implying that I’m incomprehensible.
It’s okay if an individual person doesn’t comprehend my motivations or behavior. Maybe they tried, made no progress, and decided not to try any further – if so, …
I am happy, but there were many times in my life when I wasn’t. Looking back, I think my unhappiness was usually a combination of two things: Unmet needs, and the belief that those needs could only be met in one impossible way.
For example:
I think the main difference between “loving” and “people-pleasing” is what might happen if I don’t.
Not loving feels like missing an opportunity to lighten someone’s heart – to make it feel more bright and buoyant. It’s a choice where all options feel safe.
Not pleasing feels like putting myself in danger of someone’s anger, …
Autistic people tend to prefer explicit communication. But even if other people want to support us in that way, many of them struggle to break (or even to recognize) their habits of implicit communication.
Why?
I suspect that in many cases, tucking a message between the lines feels safer for them. It protects them from …
In a recent discussion about how parents can help autistic children reach certain goals, my reaction was to question the goals themselves.
Here’s what I had to say about stopping bad behavior, appearing less weird to avoid mockery, independence, and preparing to face a confusing world.
“Stopping bad behavior.”
Some behavior is apraxia, or inability …
One interesting side effect of discovering my autism was that people stopped apologizing to me in grocery stores.
For years before that, whenever I passed someone with my cart, they would often say sorry. It happened at least 2 or 3 times per store visit.
It was baffling, because I never felt like they were …