1. Just because we’re autistic doesn’t mean we want special treatment, it just means that we miss some social queues and can be a bit slow to pick up the mood of a room. For example my autism manifests in an inability to tell emotions, I either think people are being aggressive or joking unless I know explicitly the attitude they are giving. Friends are easy because I get to know them and I can tell their tone 90% of the time, but people I’ve met for the first time, I’ll either make good friends with them because I think they’re joking or I’ll get in an argument with them because I think they’re being aggressive.
2. Family and friends of people on the spectrum: schedules are important. We are more than happy to attend your thing, spend time with you, help you do the thing, etc. But you have to give us a few days advance warning. Odds are, on the day of, we will have our entire day planned out in our head, and suddenly dropping any large time-consuming event into the middle of those plans can cause a system crash. Also, parents? If stops must be made on the way home from… anywhere, a little head’s up would be greatly appreciated.
