Being 'appropriate'

[DrDanLEdmunds]

As he sat with his notepad humming and chewing his pencil he said to me to stop that repetition of phrases. Stop twirling your hands.

As he only made sporadic eye contact with me to look up from his charts and notes he told thr teacher that I rarely make eye contact.

At the end of the day as he sat alone at the diner he was ready to tell me in the morning that I need to be participating with my 'friends'

He jumped and yelled and waved his hands about as his team scored a goal but told me when I was excited that such jumping, yelling, and waving my hands is so inappropriate.

As he rambled on with his same political rant, he told me I need to have other interests.

Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

 

[tree]

This is an artfully composed example of what it can be like
to be an autistic person in the presence of a controlling
judgemental non-autistic person who may be in a 'therapy'
role.

These five short paragraphs could as easily be placed in
a poetry thread as blank verse.

I will assume, unless directed otherwise,
that the intention is to invite other people on
the forum to contribute their own experiences
in a similar position.

 

[Suzanne]

How true is this, wow! You are too quiet! Stop being so loud!!!!

 

[Mia]

I like the juxtaposition of one person doing similar things and telling the other person who is doing similar things to act like them. The two individuals are similar, yet one takes on an authoritative role. A good comparison.

 

[Rayner]

That's a very realistic window into what being an autistic person is like. It's very chilling to think about.