Funny, but sad, experience

Post Reply New Topic

I went out to run errands today and wore my 'Aspie Stim Team' t-shirt, which says on the back 'Austism - it's not like you think' and I went to the local hardware store and had one of the clerks come up to me and say 'I really like your shirt - more people need to know about autism - I work with those kinds of kids . . .'

And I very nearly said 'Did you know that I'M one of those kinds of people?' but I didn't, seeing as how I wasn't sure what my voice inflection would be when I said that . . .

Just another example of a well meaning person who really doesn't understand the spectrum . . .

There is a certain dry irony to that... but at the same time, this clerk sounded friendly and sympathetic? Perhaps he would have been understanding. What do you think?

Oh, yeah, she seemed to be very nice and motherly about the whole thing, the situation just made me laugh . . .

I worry a lot about disclosure to random people because of my job, but I did think about it with this woman - she was very sweet - it was just the situation that was ironic . . .

Gee I dunno, she does work in a hardware store... are you sure you can trust her?

Right - that is why I didn't end up telling her . . .

I'd say she did the right thing. Since she works in customer service, there are some things she's not supposed to say. However, she seemed very understanding about the whole thing. You did the right thing too. I wouldn't go around in public telling people I have Asperger's, either.