I would say this is helping because it’s allowing me to learn a language and connect with people but this dude “Jordan” (not his real name) is known as a bad person at my school. He is half German and thinks he can hate Jewish people and act like a Nazi but because he speaks German at home, it allows him to actually speak German and say rude things without people knowing.
He taught me some German anyway, and it was actually normal stuff and he told me I should take German classes to immerse myself.
(very) Late diagnosed autistic guy here.
Thank you for writing that.
One of the revealing things about realising this is what I am is looking back at a long life and realising a lot of people thought of me as rude, or that I was being deliberately awkward. I’ve certainly lost one job because of it, lived a life that’s largely friendless (IRL anyway) and doubtless missed a thousand opportunities through not being aware of them. There’s also an element of cause and effect - sometimes you know pretty quickly that someone’s not going to warm to you, so you just shut them out mentally. It’s expensive for me to make the effort to be normal and as I’ve got older I’m less willing to waste this time and energy.
I see it as very positive that so many people are aware of neurodiversity now, especially younger generations, and their first thought when someone behaves differently isn’t always that they’re deliberately being an assehole. Sometimes they are, of course, especially those with particularly bigoted views, but not always.