... What do you mean you've been consciously using "talk to autistic people" communication patterns and that's been the most effective way to talk to me? I just thought you were a good friend. Yeah you're right, I did notice our brains tend to sync up on the same topics and flow together really well mid conversation. That's something that only really happens when I talk to people that have voluntarily identified as autistic. I just noticed they were more likely to get my jokes and references, "normal" people are a huge chore. Wait, so you have anecdotal evidence that my unusual kinks are common among other autistic people..? They're just the most likely to accept them after realizing that letting me express them makes me happy! I know so many people with really comfy cozy kinks that are just coincidentally autistic. I'm not visibly struggling to function in society, only invisibly. Nobody can ever tell until it's already too late and I want to crawl into my room and be left alone. It's like I run out of energy to deal with people and then I just want to solve the problem quickly with brute force and leave. What do you mean that's masking?
in reply to @lapisnev's post:
This feels like the exact conversation I had with my roommates when we all moved in lol welcome to the diagnosed-by-commitee club
getting told "oh you're so autistic" the 3rd time this month and thinking "hm maybe there's something there? idk"
the Autistic Friend Welcome Committee strikes again
there's some surface-level irony in how often this seems to happen to folks, given the whole thing with autistic people preferring clear/direct communication and generally decrying the use of unspoken expectations or understandings. But I think it's really just a symptom of broadening visibility and understanding around neurodiversity in adults as a whole, especially high-masking autism
(also I may be at risk of over-recommending this book, but I found Unmasking Autism by Devon Price to be super helpful as a starting point when I figured this out about myself last year. it's worth a look)
