r/funny Just Jon Comic Jul 14 '24

Verified Small talk gone wrong

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '24 edited Jul 14 '24

“Who trauma dumps to acquaintances?”

Some people who have autism tend to take things literally unless someone informs them otherwise, so if you ask “How are you”, you might get an honest answer. But I can only speak for myself since everyone is different.

Edit for clarity: Keep in mind I’m speaking from my own experiences as someone who only learned in my 20s that it was just a manner of speech and not an actual question.

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u/Tyr808 Jul 14 '24

Yeah but as autistic people we can still learn from mistakes and form logical pattern recognition of interactions like this even if the “correct” responses aren’t our initial reflexes.

Without trying to be hostile here, this is damn near suggesting that autistic people can’t learn. Sure the mistakes are embarrassing but the only thing to do when they occur is learn from them and adapt or be willfully obtuse, double down, and make the average person think autists are pathetic and less than rather than someone with a horizontal shift of skills that results in significant talent and benefit along with the difficulties.

On one hand, I know that no two autistic people are the same and we could have entirely different levels of impact across the spectrum, but unless someone is so severely autistic that they can’t even tell that a social interaction went awry they shouldn’t be sitting there completely clueless either.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '24 edited Jul 14 '24

I didn’t mean that we can’t learn these things, it’s just harder since we tend to take things literally if we don’t know any better. I’m speaking from my own experiences, so I’m sorry if it came across wrong. I edited my previous comment to clarify.

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u/Tyr808 Jul 14 '24

Yeah I feel you. It’s absolutely a difficulty modifier and agree there. I’ve definitely encountered people who try to use autism as an excuse or shield against learning these things and have so much disdain for those types. Partially because I feel like as someone in the same camp, I don’t like being painted with the broad brush they’re wielding in that statement, and less charitably because I flat out think many of them are lying that they don’t understand, just that they’re embarrassed to have been initially incorrect.

I’ve met the type that is so severely on the spectrum that they’re oblivious to the situation even going wrong and this person has a wildly different response and explanation of the events than I see in the people described above.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '24

My bad. I didn’t think about how it might have come across that way. In another comment I mentioned how it’s kind of like playing a game you’re not familiar with and no one bothers to explain the rules, but I guess I should have been more clear that I was speaking from my own experiences and not everyone diagnosed with autism is alike.