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People with autism thrive on straightforwardness, with “really honest, clear communication being a strong preference,” Gardner-Wright said.
Neff said autistic people tend to be pretty literal. For example, when you say the phrase “it’s raining cats and dogs,” she said autistic people may picture literal cats and dogs falling from the sky in their mind, but then realize the person speaking is referring to rain.
“So, actually, I think it’s perhaps more precise to say we’re visual in our communication style versus literal, but it often shows up as being literal,” Neff said. Additionally, the communication style can be described as direct and honest. “What we say, we tend to say at face value,” Neff added.
If you think you have these signs, look to autistic voices for guidance.
Both Gardner-Wright and Neff recommend exploring the hashtag #actuallyautistic on social media to listen to lived experiences and hear from people in your specific community about how this exists for them.
“Discovering that you’re autistic as an adult can be really validating,” Gardner-Wright said. It can help you more fully understand yourself and your life. “But there can also be a grieving process for that,” she said, where you may wish you had this information when you were a kid so certain situations could have been different.
“Feeling a mix of grief and also excitement is very, very normal,” Gardner-Wright said.
Additionally, embrace-autism.com is a helpful resource for free screening tools and tests to help you understand if you are autistic — though it is not diagnostic, they’re simply online guides to help arm you with information, Gardner-Wright noted.
You can reach out to mental health professionals, too.
Neff said it can be helpful to connect with a therapist to talk about this new discovery, but she stressed that it’s important to find one who is neurodivergent-affirming or -informed.
Bal agreed and said “we have a long way to go with respect to training medical professionals and mental health professionals about autism. I worry there’s a lot of misinformation and misconceptions out there.”
Bal added that you can also look up autism centers near you for diagnosis or treatment, but noted that many have a yearslong waitlist and may focus only on children. If they can’t fit you in, Bal said, you can ask if they have resources they recommend, or look for community autism organizations to see if they have any resources.
Additionally, a community of supportive people can be helpful as well, which is where the #actuallyaustic hashtag — or other online communities — can be helpful.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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