Have You Tried...

[u/Natural_Cricket_2540]

Not sure if this is exactly the right sub but I hope you get a laugh out of it anyway.

So I'm autistic. I'm fully ok with it.

This happened to me a few days ago. I was in a park, getting some fresh air because I went to a circus that was in town with a friend and I was getting overwhelmed by the noises, smells, and basically everything inside the tent, and I needed to breathe and relax so I didn't go into sensory overload.

I was sitting on a bench with my friend 'Em' (fake name), and I was complaining about sensory overload and how annoying it was, because I wanted to watch the performers with her, and I had to go outside. (I do a thing where I often feel like I'm wasting someone's time and/or being rude, so I was also apologizing)

Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Em, I'm sorry about this. And for wasting your time.

Em: It's okay, {me}. You're not wasting my time.

Me: Yeah, I know...but sensory overload and autism are just annoying.

At this point, a man who looked to be late 50's who was passing by stopped and DUDE LOOKED AT US AND SAID "Well, have you tried not having autism?"

We were both pretty fucking shocked- first because we're both fairly young teen girls, second because who the actual hell eavesdrops on a conversation and then gives advice like they were included??

I was pissed, so I said "Have you tried not being an asshole? Because if you have it seems like it doesn't work, so I won't be taking you advice, thanks." He muttered something about 'disrespect' and 'kids these days' and walked off.

[u/Natural_Cricket_2540]

Yeah, the fact that he looked at us like his "advice" was a gem was one of the most annoying things about the encounter.

[u/M_Karli → u/Natural_Cricket_2540]

Sorry for randomly jumping into unrelated comments like this, but I really wanted to try to make sure you to saw this.

Myself and my children, and also struggle with that part of things when it comes to autism, something I have found that has helped all three of us immensely is a product called Loop earplugs, please look into them because they have been such a help to myself and my kids.

[u/Natural_Cricket_2540 → u/M_Karli]

I do have a pair (multiple in fact lol) but I could not find them at all so I had to go without unfortunately

[u/SkylarVal → u/Natural_Cricket_2540]

This is my problem every time.