Is discussing what it is like to be Autistic with Neurotypical people an exercise in futility?

In my experience it depends very much on the person concerned.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was 46, two years ago, after around 20 years of friends first suggesting it, and having raised it as a possibility a few times with mental health professionals over around 15 years. In the event it took two visits to my GP to get them to refer me to a service in a neighbouring local authority area to get the process underway, and then around eight months to get the diagnosis.

Perhaps it didn't help that being undiagnosed as a child I had to develop coping strategies that mean in work, educational and some social contexts I can appear relatively 'normal'. If you're interested in finding ways to explain your experience it may be worth looking at some of the resources here on the NAS website and elsewhere to see if they provide simple and clear information that you can use as the basis of your own explanation.

Going back to it depending on the person concerned, my work have been generally very good. That said I have had to do much of the work of explaining what I specifically have difficulties with, and what I find helpful. One of my managers is a great person, but still has some challenges in understanding the need for precision, brevity and clarity in explaining tasks to me.

Although I'm not as smart or confident as I'd like it helps that I am still pretty articulate and determined. Without those skills my situation might be a whole lot worse. What has also helped in work specifically has been support from Remploy. Where that's an option I'd recommend anyone look into it with their manager or employer.

As a bit of self-promotion, in the last year I also started creating a series of short comics dealing with some specific issues. I try to keep the text and the art simple and clear, and on the whole the response has been positive. Often the specific issues are ones that others with ASC, with mental health issues, and who are 'neurotypical' have experienced, even if in less severe forms.

I still have to explain myself, and still face people forgetting that social situations and unclear communication are stressful and difficult for me to deal with. However, writing the comics has helped clarify my thinking and improved my ability to communicate the issues I face. The problem with this is that it places the responsibility on me to do the explaining, which isn't an option for some, and is more difficult the more stressed I am. Anyway, the comics are here - https://tapas.io/series/Stick-Figure-Aspergers and may be of some use. I plan to write around 20 more.

I hope you find that things get easier for you. Following my diagnosis I had quite a crisis in work and had to be very firm and clear with them that things needed to improve or I was gone. Hence the referral to Remploy. I'm still dealing with what the diagnosis means, and how to react to it. But I do feel more relaxed, I've built up some coping strategies, and I'm less interested in trying to present a 'normal' face to the world.

In my experience it depends very much on the person concerned.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was 46, two years ago, after around 20 years of friends first suggesting it, and having raised it as a possibility a few times with mental health professionals over around 15 years. In the event it took two visits to my GP to get them to refer me to a service in a neighbouring local authority area to get the process underway, and then around eight months to get the diagnosis.

Perhaps it didn't help that being undiagnosed as a child I had to develop coping strategies that mean in work, educational and some social contexts I can appear relatively 'normal'. If you're interested in finding ways to explain your experience it may be worth looking at some of the resources here on the NAS website and elsewhere to see if they provide simple and clear information that you can use as the basis of your own explanation.

Going back to it depending on the person concerned, my work have been generally very good. That said I have had to do much of the work of explaining what I specifically have difficulties with, and what I find helpful. One of my managers is a great person, but still has some challenges in understanding the need for precision, brevity and clarity in explaining tasks to me.

Although I'm not as smart or confident as I'd like it helps that I am still pretty articulate and determined. Without those skills my situation might be a whole lot worse. What has also helped in work specifically has been support from Remploy. Where that's an option I'd recommend anyone look into it with their manager or employer.

As a bit of self-promotion, in the last year I also started creating a series of short comics dealing with some specific issues. I try to keep the text and the art simple and clear, and on the whole the response has been positive. Often the specific issues are ones that others with ASC, with mental health issues, and who are 'neurotypical' have experienced, even if in less severe forms.

I still have to explain myself, and still face people forgetting that social situations and unclear communication are stressful and difficult for me to deal with. However, writing the comics has helped clarify my thinking and improved my ability to communicate the issues I face. The problem with this is that it places the responsibility on me to do the explaining, which isn't an option for some, and is more difficult the more stressed I am. Anyway, the comics are here - https://tapas.io/series/Stick-Figure-Aspergers and may be of some use. I plan to write around 20 more.

I hope you find that things get easier for you. Following my diagnosis I had quite a crisis in work and had to be very firm and clear with them that things needed to improve or I was gone. Hence the referral to Remploy. I'm still dealing with what the diagnosis means, and how to react to it. But I do feel more relaxed, I've built up some coping strategies, and I'm less interested in trying to present a 'normal' face to the world.