The Surprising Truths Autism Can Teach You About Communication
Autistic people are known for bluntness — but is that a bad thing?
It’s strange how the tiniest moments of life get stuck in your head and play on loop. Recently, my memory earworm is about a beverage.
My boyfriend and I had been together for well over a year when it happened, and we went to my parents’ house to hang out with my family. We sat down on the couch like we always did, and a few minutes later, my sister asked, “Aren’t you going to offer him a drink?”
I was flabbergasted. Was I supposed to get him a beverage? Why did I have to get him a drink, but he didn’t have to get me a drink? Hell, why did anyone need a drink? Is there a reason he would be thirsty? I’m sure he would tell me if he was thirsty, and then I’d get him a glass of water. Or did she mean alcohol? I mean, weird, but I could go for a glass of Moscato…
Looking back, I remember going to my friends’ houses as a child. You enter their home, invade their personal space, and you’re immediately offered a beverage. You enter someone else’s house, and now it’s yours, and they have to wait on you. I never thought about it. I never connected the dots.
It’s “etiquette.”
