Published on 12, July, 2020
In another discussion, this has been raised as an area which people on the spectrum find difficult.
I have found references to this problem in every book I have read so far.
As an undiagnosed person, this is one aspect that I find difficult to understand in relation to myself. If I am missing non verbal communications, I cannot be aware that I am. I am able, however, to understand quite a lot of the above, and have assumed so far, that this is just something that I have learned. (I'm another child of the 50s) So why is it such a big issue in books on asd?
People with aspergers are as intelligent, or more so, than nt people. So why would they be unable to learn that a phrase may have more than one meaning. Words with multiple meanings are commonplace, eg wind, cheque/check, love, row, tier/tear
. Do we not learn some of these things with time? I am slow at getting jokes, but get there in the end.
Do other people here, find this to be a major issue? Is Frankie Howard really beyond the comprehansion of those on the spectrum? I don't mean to be rude in asking this, it is just the one thing I have read that really doesn't seam to fit.
Thanks everybody. I am undiagnosed, and although I am convinced most of the time that I am on the spectrum, just occasionally I lose focus and start to think I am a fraud. I have just had the best weekend in many years, with a visit from my son and his wife. I felt so normal for a while.
I think this is a difficult area for me to grasp, as, if I miss something, I don't necessarily know that I have.
I can relate to some of the examples you give. I was easy to dupe early in my working life, and was often on the receiving end of joke phone calls from colleagues. A single girl I worked with spun me a yarn that her swollen stomach was some strange disease, when to everyone else she was obviously pregnant. (70s standards apply). I just thought I was a bit naiive. The guiness pipeline type thing, I now listen, and accept what people say, but do sometimes start to have doubts later and check things.
The double entendre thing constantly gets me in bother because I am always saying things that other people take as rude (sexy). Unintentionally
If conversation around me turns to banter, I enjoy from the sidelines, I thought my inability to keep up meant I was a bit thick. I have been caught out not realising a joke was a joke, but I put that down to failings in the teller.
Perhaps the real issue is, that all the books represent this problem in a very basic, black and white way, whereas it appears to be much more subtle and varies considerably from person to person.
Thanks again, I'm back on track.