Would You Like Me to Do an Autism for You?
Or; What some people say when they find our you're autistic, and how to respond
Being very recently diagnosed, the process of people in my life—some who have known me for years, decades even—becoming aware that I’m autistic and have ADHD feels really weird for me.
Aside from very close family, I haven’t told anyone directly. It seems a tad performative1 to just blurt it out without prompt - but equally I’m not afraid to talk about it either.
Well, actually I am. At least, in person I might be. That kind of comes part and parcel with autism. What’s more accurate to say is that I’m not hiding it from anyone. Not anymore. A huge part of the year ahead from a personal point of view is to figure out what my masking looks like and try to peel some of that back.
So with that, I’m going to have to open myself up for people’s reactions. Therein lies another social landmine for those among us who struggle socially: I have no idea how people will react.
So, again in classic autistic fashion, I’ve decided to come up with a set of scripts that I…
