I'm on the spectrum, and my son even more so. It's painful when my heart is in the right place, but neuro-typicals mistake my intent and refuse to believe me.
It's taken a lot of effort for me to adjust my communication style to avoid those situations. Happily it's mostly paid off, but I'm sad that my son will likely need to walk the same path somewhat.
> neuro-typicals mistake my intent and refuse to believe me
This is an idea I had to unlearn. We struggle as much understanding ourselves as understanding other people. When people react negatively to our behavior often times we immediately jump to extending unlimited benefit of the doubt to our own intentions. In reality, our perception of our own intentions are often post-hoc fabrications to preserve our self-image as a nice person. Letting go of this assumption was helpful to a better understanding of interpersonal interaction.
I'm on the spectrum, and my son even more so. It's painful when my heart is in the right place, but neuro-typicals mistake my intent and refuse to believe me.
It's taken a lot of effort for me to adjust my communication style to avoid those situations. Happily it's mostly paid off, but I'm sad that my son will likely need to walk the same path somewhat.