That’s the problem with communication – you can never be sure what the other person means. And I must say I certainly get less confident about it since I realised I’m autistic, even though I can’t really remember many situations when I misunderstood people but still, it feels to me now that conversation with somebody I don’t know well is like a minefield.

Last week I emailed local radio station and I wrote this:

‘Hello,

I’m an autistic blogger living in Swindon. I wonder if autism in adults is something you’d like to talk about?
I’m not sure I’d like to take part as I am not very good at communicating when put on the spot, but I thought I’d reach out.

The message I want to pass on would be that I don’t agree with the fact that autistics need things being stated explicitly every time.’

I thought that they would respond with: ok, give us some more info, but instead I got an email from a manager stating that she will be happy to chat with me and asking if I want to visit the studio.

That’s a bit confusing, isn’t it? I mean it looks to me like she just wants to get to know me on this stage, but as it’s not stated directly, I’m now freaking out they’ll put me in front of the microphone hoping the truth will come out. This is how presenters usually treat politicians: they confuse them in hope to find out well hidden truth. That wouldn’t work on me though – to find out what I am really thinking I need like 30 minutes to myself and a pen and paper. If you confuse me and then demand a response you’ll get a total nonsense that will be made up of phrases that I previously heard other people using in situations that (I think) were similar.

So yes, coming back to the subject of this post: it would be silly to ask for clarification on the reason behind being invited to the radio, wouldn’t it? Especially after I stated I don’t agree with the current advice that we, autistics, need everything being stated explicitly. Lol!

So I decided to just go with the flow and say that yes, coming to visit would be exciting. I can always run off, I suppose? Ha ha. Lol.