Politics has taken over

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Thank you for your insight and sound advice… and for sharing your story.

There has to be some way to get him to start seeing shades of gray in at least some areas. Offhand, I would suggest that you start with some topic about which he doesn't have passionate feelings, but many other people do. Such topics could be used to illustrate the fallacy of dualistic thinking. Or perhaps you could start with basic physical quantities, e.g. there is such a thing as a comfortable temperature that is neither hot nor cold.

As for possible ways to get him to be a little less obnoxious in how he expresses his political views, perhaps you might recommend that he (and your other kids too!) read and study the following articles:

- How to Politely Tell Someone That Something They Said Offended You - WikiHow, Last Updated: May 14, 2020.
- How to Tell Someone They Are Wrong by Maya Diamond, MA, WikiHow, Last Updated: July 31, 2020.

Also, as one possible approach to discussing these matters with your kids, you might want to look at:

- How to Use Socratic Questioning Technique by Simon Ash, The Right Questions, February 27, 2018.

Last edited by Mona Pereth on 01 Sep 2021, 10:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Did you ever look into the possibility of getting him trained in a skilled trade such as plumber or electrician? Seems to me that might be a way for him to earn more money than in the above-mentioned jobs?

ill add Heavy Duty Mechanic to the list.

Many trades can lead to real money through oil field work, ect. Even discounting the money, could be a good way for aspies to build confidence.

Not sure about the clumsy thing though, lol

Thank you! I’ll look into these suggested readings. There is very little he doesn’t take personally. If I don’t want to watch a movie or show he recommends he gets upset. Granted not to the extent he does around politics but he still takes it to heart….

I would love to try and get him trained in some skill. We have adult classes in the area that he could attend. He doesn’t want to go. He has terrible trouble with math. Back in the day he wasn’t permitted to use a calculator ( oh how times have changed!) so I think he believes he wouldn’t be able to manage the calculations that go along with certain skill training like carpentry…. I wonder about HVac and car mechanics but he refuses to go.

That's his problem to learn to deal with, he has to learn to handle those situations without getting upset and without his feelings being coddled.

Yes, I agree. The problem is I have not been able to facilitate that and he doesn’t seem to understand how his behavior alienates others. Ironically he seems to recover from any bad feelings much faster than the rest of us. Inevitably we are left still feeling slapped around and he’s ready to go have a burger and beer, which leads me to believe he really has no idea how his behavior impacts his relationships.

He might need to hear from many people all at once how his behaviours impact those relationships in no uncertain terms, like an intervention.

This is, alas, a common problem among some (not all) autistic people. I've sent you a collection of relevant links via private message.