Moondust wrote:
I think one of the biggest difficulties I have in relating to the NT world is that I so often make wrong assumptions about specific situations involving people.
Eg: I'm obsessed with stray cats and devote a huge part of my life to them. I once met a woman who is more obsessive than me about stray cats (she even left her IT career to care for strays 24/7 and does nothing else with her life. Once she invited me to a holiday dinner at her home, where I met her parents and life partner and the 20 or so former stray cats living with her and her partner. My automatic assumption: the central topic of conversation would be stray cats. Well, big mistake. Turned out stray cats is a taboo topic in that house because the life partner isn't especially fond of and doesn't like much talk about it. Mentioning in awe the amount of cats they have is also a big NO-NO. I was told early in the conversation to change the topic and refrain from mentioning it again. I had wrongly taken for granted that someone like her, with values and a lifestyle like hers, could only have a life partner who was deep into stray cats too. To me, it'd be totally unthinkable otherwise.
I think everyone makes incorrect assumptions sometimes. The frequency at which you make them is generally reduced the better you get at 'reading people', so people on the spectrum probably do this more often.
Just an aside, but that sounds like hoarding behaviour to me. I mean, collecting animals to the detriment of your personal relationships is kind of... hoarder. I mean, taking in stray cats is awesome, and people should do it, but there's a line. I'm not sure where that line is, I think it's different for different people.