I’ve been thinking a lot about how as neurodivergent people we censor and edit ourselves so much for neurotypical people that we seem to forget how to communicate with other neurodivergent people who would love for us to communicate in the ways we’ve been taught to avoid.
We’ve been taught “don’t talk out of turn but don’t be too quiet, don’t share your own related experiences but communicate empathy, be a good listener but don’t expect others to care about your interests, don’t speak unless spoken too but come out of your shell or people will think you’re being rude, don’t be annoying, don’t be annoying, don’t be annoying.”
So even in our own spaces, among friends, among other neurodivergent people, we say “sorry I’m being annoying” or “sorry to bother you” or “sorry I don’t know how to start a conversation” or “sorry I’m so awkward,” at each other because we’ve censored our communication so much that it feels like we’ve forgotten our own first language, and we’re hoping someone else will see that and teach it to us again (but they’ve forgotten it too).
