Literal thinking- I don’t owe you my medical history

 

Literal thinking – I don’t owe you my medical history.

I’m going to tell you a story now that some may find distressing.

As an autistic woman I take things very literally. Whilst I was at university, I had to travel for 1 hour on a bus to get to my lectures. One day the card payment machine wasn’t working, I didn’t understand that meant I couldn’t pay so I was looking for change. It’s important to know I find it helpful to use noise cancelling headphones on public transport. Whilst looking for change in my bag, someone behind me got annoyed at me and thought I was being rude, and I couldn’t hear them. They pulled my headphones off my head and shouted at me. I didn’t get on a bus for the next 9 months. The next time I saw this person I was wearing my hidden disabilities lanyard, and they said, ‘I never would have pulled them off if I knew you were autistic’. Surprisingly that didn’t make it any better.

Using my autism and your lack of knowledge on the fact to justify assaulting someone is not okay. I do not owe you my medical history to get on a bus.

Now my hopes in telling you this is not to scare you or make you feel sorry for me but is for 2 reasons.

1)        You do not owe anyone an explanation of your medical diagnosis. You should be treated the same way as if you weren’t autistic. It is your choice to tell someone if you think it will matter and not telling them does not justify their actions.

2)        If you see someone struggling with something (like me on the bus), ask if you can help. Trust me that will be appreciated a lot more than being assaulted. I know that in times of stress anger may come out but try and remember one thing…we are all human.