Published on 12, July, 2020
Is it just me or do others get upset / triggered / frustrated/ uncomfortable when someone says or writes one of the following or similar…
I have no doubt that their intentions are good and mean no harm. BUT the problem is that it kind of winds me up. I mean, it’s not like having a cold or virus that you probably would feel much better after a week or so. I find this particularly irksome in the work environment - eg when you contact work to say that you’re struggling and will not be working today.
Am I being overly sensitive? Am I interpreting their good intended words TOO literally? Is there a suitable response to better inform them? Is this really an autistic thing or maybe just me?
I don't mind it if I've been 'normie sick'; I had covid recently and felt okay about people saying "get well soon" because it was something I hoped to recover from (and I did, luckily). But I find it extremely irritating to hear "get well soon" when I'm talking to someone about chronic illness, because it feels like they've either ignored or misunderstood me.
I think I would be really cross if someone said this kind of thing about me being autistic- it's not a disease to recover from, it's a normal variation on the human brain. It can be difficult to live with at times but it's literally part of what makes me 'me'.
Absolutely - something like a cold, the flu, even COVID you typically will recover / get better / feel better. Autism on the other hand is something that you are born with and will live your whole life with - there is no "getting better" to it.
Now as we all know, we have good days and bad days - even NT's have these. But in our context, the struggle is that the good / bad are very much influenced by our "condition". So maybe "hope you feel better" isn't so bad after all, but maybe in my autistic mind something like "I hope that you have a better day tomorrow". I guess its all semantics anyway..