Before I got my diagnosis (not autistic, but do have some autistic charactersitics!), I was spending a couple of days a week at a mental health support centre. I needed to discuss some problems, and the support worker started off by stating "I've never known why you come here. You're totally self contained, and don't need anything or anyone". Not the most helpful way to put it, and it put me off going there again!
If she'd said it as an observation of how I come across, it would have been one of the most useful things anyone has ever said to me, but stated as fact it was insulting, and inappropriate in that environment.
I do think it's how I come across though, and I hadn't realised it before. I think I'm actually that way because I have trouble making close connections with people, rather than because I want to be.
Before I got my diagnosis (not autistic, but do have some autistic charactersitics!), I was spending a couple of days a week at a mental health support centre. I needed to discuss some problems, and the support worker started off by stating "I've never known why you come here. You're totally self contained, and don't need anything or anyone". Not the most helpful way to put it, and it put me off going there again!
If she'd said it as an observation of how I come across, it would have been one of the most useful things anyone has ever said to me, but stated as fact it was insulting, and inappropriate in that environment.
I do think it's how I come across though, and I hadn't realised it before. I think I'm actually that way because I have trouble making close connections with people, rather than because I want to be.