Examples:
Yesterday I was at a health evaluation for a driver’s license. Everything went well with my physical health, but at questioning, my autism was bought up. I was accused of needing help with learning in primary school (despite of my grades, that were usually B (I know, I’m lazy)) and now I need a psychological evaluation.
When I started high school, most professors infantalized me, but later stopped after I proved myself (ok, some didn’t stop, like the slovene teacher and the sport teacher/coach).
When I meet someone new, they always think I am intelectually disabled, before proving otherwise…
Why is this happening?
I went through some similar issues at work. I’m pretty good when it comes to understanding technical stuff with their proper names and schematics, but I struggle awfully at understanding organisations (who to talk to when this issue arises, what to do when that stuff comes up, etc). I’ve been called disappointing because of it, yet as far as I can see I’m the most technically competent person on the team, by far.
It’s really frustrating and I have to rely a lot on other people when it comes to organising.
Thankfully the guy I mainly work with is very understanding and helps me a ton on that.
This! People only see what you cant do compared to them while being oblivious to the stuff they themselves cant.
There is also this bias that just because your clearly clever one way (like dealing with patterns off massive data web displayed on a a 4k monitor) means you must be smart everywhere else.
“Hey you’re smart, what is “math equations using more then 4 different numbers”…. I have no short time memory and need a screen for everything . I cannot possibly hold 4 numbers in my head at the same time and calculate.
So you are great at your job, people just don’t want to accommodate you, because they don’t care.
The thing is, I’m not officially diagnosed yet so I didn’t “come out”. I plan on doing it whenever my diagnosis is complete and then I’ll see if anything changes on that side.
That’s kind of a gamble, because It could turn way better or way worse.
Absolutely, I’m very conscious of that, I’ll definitely validate that with my therapist first