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What's your autism "elevator pitch"?

FlowerChild said:
I tend to ramble about the problematic medicalisation of Autism as a social category, and the suppression of Autistic traits in favour of assimilation with NT behaviour. I then propose that it is a positive difference in neurological functioning, which is not inherently disabling, but rather disabling in that it diverges from the status quo in a world catered to NTs. Luckily, since this is my postgraduate research topic, I work in a university where most people find that quite fascinating and comprehensible. :tearsofjoy::tonguewink:
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The art community and musicians also don’t care. They are probably Neurodiverse anyway.
 
I love roses said:
The art community and musicians also don’t care. They are probably Neurodiverse anyway.
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definitely! Before I was involved in academia I spent my early-twenties on the music scene, which I found profoundly liberating in its lack of 'status quo' social expectations.
 
If we outnumbered the NTs, they would be the ones with a “problem” and they would have to fit into our world.
 
Nervous Rex said:
Because I don't think verbally on-the-fly very well, I like to have short, precise answers to anticipated questions prepared in advance. They are kind of like elevator pitches - a succinct sales pitch that could be delivered while riding the elevator with someone.

It hasn't come up yet (because I am trying to be reserved about who I tell), but I want an answer for "Oh, you're autistic ... what does that mean?"

Here's my first draft answer:

"It means that my brain is wired differently. I am good at some things that most people aren't - like math - and terrible at others things that everyone else does naturally - like social interactions and relationships."

Does anyone else have a canned answer for questions like this? If you have an autism elevator pitch, I'd love to hear it.
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I am really bad at thinking on the fly too. I generally tell people in a letter or a text. In fact, I told someone verbally for the first time on June 28th of this year. She does not have a cell phone, so I was going to leave her a letter. But then I was scared it would fall into the wrong hands. So I told her in person. She was very accepting, but it still took me days to recover from the stress☹.
Typical me
 
No 'elevator speech' I could give would ever be adequate, but it would be something like this: I have Asperger's. It's a neurological condition which affects the way I process information and experience the world. It means that I think and act a bit differently and I may come across to you as being a bit quirky, but otherwise I am just a regular person!
 
Judge said:
Then factor in difficulties in spontaneous exchanges in real time. And if that isn't enough, factor in that for every ten words a Neurotypical might use to elaborate on something, the likelihood of your using no less than fifty.
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I like that answer.
Trying to explain something is like going around the world to get to the point!
No one has ever asked, although I think those who have knowledge on the subject suspect a lot of times.
A good one someone once said to me was: "You must be one of those genius people that have no common sense."
I never tell anyone anyway. The person I live with knows now and a couple of doctors.
 
SusanLR said:
A good one someone once said to me was: "You must be one of those genius people that have no common sense."
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My partner said something similar to me (before I was diagnosed) that I am intelligent, but have no social skills.
 
Tom said:
I don't, because as a rule I do not tell anyone besides family and with those I played it by ear. The response would also I think depend upon the person's existing knowledge level autism. My sister for instance has a son with it, and my inlaws a brother, so they already have a good ammount of understanding/experience.

If people suspect, thats fine. They will not know, and I think it better to keep it an open question then be tied to a negative label/stereotype many have.
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I agree I don't tell anybody because you shouldn't. You should never disclose your disability upfront unless somebody asks and at that point it's none of their business even still but if you feel like disclosing that's your business and you have the right to decide that you're going to or not but you should not disclose your disability because it's none of anybody's blank business but your own our own and I have gotten myself in the trouble doing that. Like I used to look online for dates on plenty of fish and OkCupid and things like that because that's easier for me then to go around town Hinode you know I'm not social enough and going through online stuff is a lot easier for me socially but I have found that when it comes to the point of we're doing good would like to go past the point of just talking online and we want to meet each other it starts out as the guy saying it's been great to get to know you would you like to go out sometime and I say sure and then they say okay where would you like to meet me at … That's when it gets really really really really awkward because that's when you decide you have to tell them or they're gonna think you're blowing them off and not interested in trying to meet them or they might think that you're using them as a taxi because you're too lazy to drive to them or that you have sexist thoughts about how dating should go that the guy is the only one that should make an effort and I don't want to think any of those things about me but I have to say something so here it goes… So I simply say I can't drive would you be willing to pick me up and I apologize for this. That's when the guy says oh that's okay may I ask why you can't drive? And then the real disclosure comes in I don't want to say I have a disability because then you're like oh she's that kind of girl I don't want to date someone with a mental problem but he may not think that but that's what my mind is gonna think he's gonna think . So how do I approach this answer correctly and I do the best I can to say I feel driving because I have horrible depth perception and I can't pay attention and I can't focus and I had a specialized instructor to was with me for six weeks and I fail miserably but that's okay not everybody can do that it is what it is and they always end up saying well it's okay it's easy we all struggle at first and I'm like but you don't understand I didn't struggle I have a problem that keeps me from being able to drive it's not something I can just get over Eveillard overtime and then they want to know what this problem is that I think is so bad and that's when I have to kind of say well it's hard to explain but I have a neurological disability socially heard of autism and they say yeah I think so I had a cousin once with that but I don't really know the cause and a whole lot but I know a little bit isn't it like this or this and I'm like yeah kind of but I'm higher functioning men are like well what exactly is higher functioning mean and I say well it just means that I get a little bit scared in the high traffic environments kind of like someone who's claustrophobic gets freaked out when there's too many people I get like that when there's a lot of traffic on the road and I get like that when I'm in a large crowd such as the concert or a shopping mall that gets really crowded so I don't go shopping on weekends and I get overstimulated by certain smells so I don't go to certain types of restaurants like Indian restaurants or things because they smell so many different kinds of incense and I can't handle that and I can't handle screaming crying babies for very long I get really overwhelmed high-traffic environment such as large crowds lots of noise lots of smells everything is really overstimulating my senses and it panics me and my body freaks out the way that someone claustrophobic freaks out and that's mainly my biggest problem I just don't like a lot of situations like that and that's why I can't drive and they're like oh you just don't know you just have to practice we all panic when we get on the road at first and I'll teach you and I realize they're not getting it and then if it does go anywhere beyond two date they find out exactly what I was talking about because they pick a ****** date that I tried to tell them in the beginning was not a good idea for me to pick a high-traffic environment that scares me and I don't freak out and cry or scream or nothing but I didn't have as good of the time and I seemed a little reserved and they wonder what they did wrong and I try to tell them I don't like high-traffic environments and they're like oh so I'm a ****** day and I'm like no I just got a little overwhelmed at that place and he was like okay well nevermind then and then after we talk online from then on it just kind of turns into have a nice time being a cat lady for the rest of your life. One time my mom and I had a talk about this kind of subject and I explained these things to her and she laughed her ass off and she said is that really true ? I'm like is what true? You guys really tell you to have a nice life being a cat lady I'm like yes because I think that's all I'm gonna amount to if I'm really that crazy weird about going places and I really can't drive and I didn't have a good time with them I'm probably not gonna like anybody else about me not gonna like anywhere else that anybody else picks so there's no guy that's gonna satisfy no place but I gonna like and I'm never gonna get to leave my apartment and go anywhere in life so I'm just gonna result of being a cat lady the rest of my life because that's all I can do and they don't want something like that they want someone that's real that can have a life that wants to have a life and I sounds really boring and they don't want to deal with that. and my mom laughs and she says I'm sorry I'm not trying to laugh at you that's just a ridiculous thing for a guy to say or think. I'm like well I can kind of see where they're coming fromand she's like yeah I suppose so too but it's still kind of a ridiculous thing for them to sayand I'm like well I get it but it hurts my feelingsand she's like well honey do the best you can not to disclose your disability becauseif you want a chance with the guy you cannot tell themand your high enough functioning as it is they don't even notice unless you tell themand I'm like well when it comes to the whole drivingwhat am I supposed to do?How am I supposed totell them I can't drivewithout telling them why because you know they're gonna wonder whyand I don't want them to think thatI'meither using them as a taxi service because I think that'swhat I guys Bowleysand that I don't care to learn to drive because it's the guys job taking everywhere and I don't want them to think that I don't care to try to learnandI don't want them to think thatI'm not willing to meet thembut they have to come to meandI want them to know thatthat's not how I feel about meI would drive to them and meet them halfway if I truly couldyou know and she's like you just have to find the right guy thatis okay with thatin the meantimeyou cannotopenly say I have a disability and run the guys off if that's the responsory how else am I gonna do that? how else can I encounter a man online and have that conversation without saying I have a disability?You can't. If they say it's been this many weeks and I would like to finally get to meet you would you like to meet me somewhere and I can't meet them somewhere what do I say other then I can't drive? And then you know that's gonna turn into well may I ask why you can't drive?Because how many times are they gonna come across a person that says I can't drive? most people can. So that's the new to hear "I can't drive." And yeah that's going to spark curiosity to know wh . And then they're gonna think oh that's just normal stuff everybody has that trouble because they don't really get it and that's when you know they don't really understand the disability thing and then when you try to explain it's more than just that then they're like oh and you know in their mind they think I don't want a girl like that I want someone whose an NT En this doesn't have to be one sided . And they try to do the best they can to say sorry but this isn't working and it always comes out as sorry but I can't have a nice timing a cat lady forever and that hurts my feelings but that's there Nurotypical way of saying sorry this isn't working. Now someone that has a disability and understands disability understand that hurts to say it that way but to a narrow typical person who has a very narrow mind of a disability they actually think that that's being polite . So I don't disclose to jack squat if I can help it.
 
You don’t always have to tell the truth, this is something I have recently learned myself.
Would it be a terrible lie to say, “I dont have a car, can you pick me up?”
Oh course, at some point the issue will have to be dealt with but that would be later when you are more comfortable with the person.
 
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