Where do people personally feel they sit on a line of understanding social communication (not what they are supposed to be like according to science)
- I can’t figure out what people expect of me and often end up lost or staying quiet.
- I get social communication wrong more often than I get it right.
- I get some things wrong, but I get a lot right too.
- I think I understand social communication as well as, or better than, most people
It would be interesting, even if none of these fit your description, to discuss as a starting point. This is very much an ad hoc topic.
What I’m interested in is how autistic people actually experience their own social understanding.
Many discussions start from the assumption that autistic people have social deficits, but lived experience is often much more nuanced than that. Some people may feel completely lost in social situations, some may feel they understand people well but communicate differently, and others may feel they have developed strengths in areas such as pattern recognition, honesty, empathy, or reading behaviour.
I’m interested in where people feel they sit personally, how they arrived there, and whether their experience matches or differs from what they have been told to expect about autism.
There are no right or wrong answers. The options are simply a starting point for exploration and discussion.