Verbal Instruction

I recently experienced something I thought was interesting, and thought it may be worth relaying here.  A bit of background information first - I am currently awaiting a Full Assessment for ASD, and one of the things I have always had problems with is understanding verbal instruction.

A few days ago, I was speaking to somebody at my car insurance company, who was giving me information about my car policy, and I was finding it very hard to take in the facts and figures.  I explained to the man in the call centre that I was having problems taking in the information, and thought he might not understand what I meant by that, so then told him with a bit of hesitation "basically I'm mildly autistic".  He'd been quite helpful before I mentioned autism, but then he asked if I would like him to read out the key points of the policy so I could write them down, which I said would be very helpful indeed.  He explained the various details, giving me time to write them down, so I could understand and process them, and respond appropriately.  It was such a good experience for me to speak to somebody in this way, and after the call I felt very positive about having understood the information much more clearly.  As I sometimes have trouble speaking in the "wrong" places in phone conversations too, I found the space that he gave me in the conversation was less stressful.

However, I must admit to feeling a bit uneasy about claiming I was "mildly autistic", not because I don't feel comfortable thinking of myself in this way - diagnosis would in fact be a comfort - but because I was claiming to be something that (at the moment at least) I'm not.  Also, I've heard it said that "there's nothing mild about Autism" - because ASD means so many different things to so many on the spectrum.

If I felt overloaded with information on a phone call again, which is common for me, I'd be tempted to mention autism again, because it helped me to get sense and the relevant details from the call.

I guess what I'm asking here is should I feel at ease doing this again?  I suppose it comes down to me wanting to be honest (I've been told many times that I am!).

I'd be interested to know what others think.  After my realisation that I may have ASD recently, I'm now in that difficult middle ground until I get my Full Assessment.