Being Autistic & Annoying.

I found this on Quora and it explains what it feels like to be autistic, and how other people are annoyed by it, but for us it's just the different way we interpret and perceive things:

Alice C

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ASD mom with an ASD son5h

There are many autistic people in my life, and I really don't understand them. I kind of don't like them at all. Can someone explain to me why these people are insufferable sometimes?

We operate in a slightly different “language”. Many people compare autistic people to aliens from a different planet, and I kind of tend to agree.

We may perceive humor differently. What is funny to you, may not make any sense to us, and vice versa.

We may not notice you being sarcastic or insincere. On the other hand, we tend to be literal and direct. This is off-putting to many people. You say, “I worked so hard, I'm literally dead”, and we say, “Actually, you're literally alive”. Or you ask, “Does this dress make me fat?”, and if it does, we say, “Yes, it does”. Because that was what you asked, and we often (unpredictably) see no point in using words you didn't mean. Literally.

Also, when you lie, that's not nice.

Your social conventions are often strange to us. Why is it offensive to take the first piece of cake? Someone should eat it anyway, it's not there for decoration. Why is it necessary to say “bless you” when someone sneezes and you weren't going to bless anyone because you're not a priest?

Your small talk is meaningless. If you're calling to ask me if I can babysit your kids, don't preface it with, “how are you, what did you do this week, how is your mother's health, is there lots of activity in the garden this season?” Just get to the point.

We tend to get carried away when talking about a topic we like. It may be difficult to shut us up. We get very detailed. When you asked where I bought this car, you probably didn't want a lecture on the number of architectural styles on that address.

Our sensory sensitivities are unusual. We may not enjoy keeping eye contact, or we may stare directly into your eyes because we don't understand how eye contact works. We may ask you not to speak louder than that, or to stop doing that clicking sound with your tongue. It's grating. The background noise is deafening and we may become restless and distracted while listening to you over the enormous cacophony of the cars passing by.

We can make unusual connections in our mind. You say that you bought a Sphinx cat and we say, “Oh, I once attended a papyrus making workshop”. Sphynx—Egypt—papyrus, you know.

Et cetera.

But the fact that you seem to hold it against us is what makes our lives hell, because you expect us to perceive the world like you do. Try writing with your non-dominant hand sometime. See how comfortable that is.