Autism @lemmy.world BOMBS @lemmy.world 6mo ago

Those of us that have undergone autism-specific therapy or training to learn to socialize better, what lessons did you learn?

I think it would be interesting to share lessons we've learned about socializing that didn't come natural to us like they do for NTs.

What social difficulties did you have, and what did you learn to compensate for them?
Also, since there's a difference between autistic and NT cultures, what lessons did you learn about socializing with NTs and in NT environments?

Infodumps are welcomed! 😁

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These things come to mind at the moment:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_reversal How would I judge a situation from another person's perspective? It helped me to understand why others react strange to me.

Learning to really accept myself and to stop judging myself helped me to build some confidence. Which in turn helps to handle (or survive) situations which ask to much from me.

Learning to listen to myself. If I feel, that I don't want to do something, I don't have to. Not now, maybe later, OK?

And of course: Trial and error. It worked fine before. Maybe it can be useful in the future. :)
- Learning to really accept myself and to stop judging myself helped me to build some confidence. Which in turn helps to handle (or survive) situations which ask to much from me.
  
  Learning to listen to myself. If I feel, that I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to. Not now, maybe later, OK?
  
  I like these two a lot. Congrats!
  
  Thanks. :)
  
  The problem was: learning self acceptance started to make sense to me after the first few steps. It didn't make sense to me at the beginning even though I thought that I get it.
  ... if that makes sense.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828370-political-savvy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People

Star trek

It was a rocky road, but I got there in the end
- Could you elaborate on the lessons you have learned from those resources pls?
  
  Looking at people and their intrinsic motivations desires and goals as a basis for conversations
My children have received autism-specific therapy and learned key NT social skills from it. I am happy to share my understanding of their experience, but I would ask permission first since this question was directed at autistic people and my official role in the family as dad and husband is being "the most neurotypical one."

Edit to add: they have learned skills that help them navigate life, including life in a NT dominant world. I hesitate to label them as NT skills because they are used by my autistic children and maybe the actual skill is approached differently, but that is probably pedantic.
- Share away, please! Btw, I believe everyone has the right to understand in their own way how autism and society interact, so please don't feel the need to exert too much effort on pedantry unless you really want to. Personally, I appreciate diverse persepectives because I feel it gives me a well-rounded view of the situation. It's like if we were all standing around an object. I can only see my side, but if we all shared our own perspectives, then we could see 360*.

14 comments