Published on 12, July, 2020
I have been thinking recently about masking and the various means that one uses to mask. It has occurred to me, that the use of a ‘passive voice’ in my communication, is a big part of the way I write and speak.
I can remember all the way back to college, that tutors used to comment on my ‘wordiness’, I well-achieved (D*D*D*) in College but kids always used to say “You’re not that smart are you? You just write a lot”. The implication being that I was obscuring my lack of understanding. The more I’ve written, the better I have gotten at writing, but I still write a lot. I find that every now and again I take on a new element of language, but I always write a lot and I never reread, I just speed-write to victory. In my speech I do talk a lot, talking about anything at length and for length, I enjoy getting my thoughts out and enjoy how language is constructed in my head. But I also speak longer words and phrases in a disagreeable situation, to offset any aggressive reaction to my imperative, I find that a great rhetorical-tool can be found in elongated words and phrases and sentences.
I have thought that: Maybe it is because I have enjoy vocabulary but not grammar, or maybe it is because I never formally-learned grammar at school, or maybe I abandoned the ‘active voice’ as a means of non-detection and non-confrontation. It may even have been, a kind-of speed writing that I developed, to safely expose myself to writing and speech.
It has not been the case, that all the individuals that I know (who have an Autism Spectrum Condition), have a circumlocutory communication style. I have known some ASC individuals, to be very literal and active in their communication, and no less intelligent.
So I guess I am just interested to know: How this style of communication sits-with and is experienced by the community? Why the community thinks it occurs? Is it born of the environment and exposure? Is it a repetitive action or an interest? Is it a means of evasion or development? Is it the result of the level of skill attainment?
I'm very, thoroughly, extremely verbose. I have always thought that it was important to communicate clearly. It turns out that, while I'm crafting the perfect sentence, most people are judging me based on my neutral facial expression, soft monotone, and unfashionable clothes.
Well they do say that what-someone-says is only 8% of what constitutes an effective-communication, so if like me you have odd-or-unrewarding tone and body-language, you get a good idea of just a large the mountain of social-impairment can be.
NTs really tend to take for granted the energy it takes to mask-enough to produce an effective-communication. There’s a reason that 90% of us do not have meaningful employment. It is an act of heroism to find stability in an NT world I think.
It is important to communicate clearly. Never let asshats convince you otherwise!
Never despair ..... there are still a select group of people (both NT and ND) .... who rightly (in my opinion) see past the "dressings" of life and look to connect with the sentience within. If this were not to be the case, then I would never have any work.....and I'm always working!
It is very convenient to me that, people who only go by appearances, never want to engage with me. This suits me perfectly because I know I am not missing out on anything interesting!