I was trying to come up with a way to respond to Tanner's Dad Tim and while I was processing/mulling that, JD was taking me to dinner. As serendipitous as this sounds, these experiences coincided in a beautiful example and a horrible misunderstanding. It was one of those weird moments that you see in television and moves where the person identifies the issue or how to fix a problem due to an epiphany received through a later [and completely unrelated] conversation/problem/random statement. I just hope I was able to type both situations and the connection cohesively [which would make this an even rarer occurrence, lol].



The epiphany came as JD turned to me with this expression of resigned anger and said, "Well, obviously you wanted to go to Applebee's as you mentioned it over and over again." In that exact moment I realized that just as ASD's are described as having "theory of the mind" issues; NT's also have no idea HOW we are thinking.



From the beginning:

JD came and picked me up and we had planned to go to the Chinese Buffet. There are two for us to choose from, but we usually end up going to the closer one. This time we opted to go to the one that was a little farther away as the cost is similar, but the quality difference is noticeable. Also, we had not gone to that one in awhile. We get out there, but it has closed. [Also - win, it is now a Japanese steakhouse/sushi bar except that JD does not eat sushi.] So the decision was to either go back to the first option or head out to the other Chinese restaurant a little farther down which is more-expensive. We ended up in lane on the road which could go straight or right. Let us pause here for a moment, because I want to express how this works. Snap your fingers. How long did that take? This next paragraph happened in that same amount of time. Just keep that in perspective as you read it.



1- our lane goes straight and right. 2- right is Chinese, more expensive, and straight is Applebee's. 3- JD likes Applebee's, often wants to go there, I do not enjoy Applebee's. 4- we would spend the same amount of money at either restaurant. 5- if I suggest we could go to Applebee's, I have done something that takes JD's preferences into account and he may enjoy Applebee's.



Catch all that? Now snap your fingers again just to help it feel real. I do that, that right there, when I problem solve, think about a situation, consider what I am going to do later, etc., etc., etc.. It is awesome and it is exhausting. [But I would never give it up. NEVER. It is totally worth it.]



Anyway, back to the narrative:

So I say, 'we could also go to Applebee's if you prefer. We would be spending the same amount.' And that is where it all went horribly awry. We go straight, he obviously does not wan to go to Applebee's and starts getting frustrated, he turns around, we head back out, I try to explain myself as he is visibly frustrated/angry/something, he turns around again, goes back to Applebee's and parks. I said, "I just wanted to offer Applebee's because you like Applebee's, I did not want to start a fight or make this complicated."



That is when he turned to me with this expression of resigned anger and said, "Well, obviously you wanted to go to Applebee's as you mentioned it over and over again."



We ended up talking/arguing at the table and from his perspective, we were at Applebee's solely because I wanted Applebee's [even though he should know that I do not like Applebee's - we had that debate several times because he would want Applebee's add I would always rather have O'Charlie's]. When I tried to state how I was looking at the situation, he would counter to the effect of 'oh, so it is my fault.' No matter what I said, JD could not understand HOW I was thinking. In my mind, it did not have to be anybody's fault, there was no need to lay fault anywhere. I just wanted to have him understand how/why I was thinking about the situation as this is a fundamental issue in our communication - he cannot understand my way of perceiving the situation.



There is no emotional component [not wanting to be wrong, wanting to make a situation somebody's fault, etc.] when it comes to situations like this. It is nothing more than the fact that the words coming out of his mouth are not accurate to what I'm actually thinking/trying to say. It does not matter how bluntly I state it, he is reading between lines that do not exist and refuses to understand that.



Similarly, I feel that this is where Tim and I ended up in our conversation: He is unable to understand the context in which I think. I've been working on this entry since Friday and initially I was trying to come up with a respectful rebuttal to Tim as I do not like confrontation but also I felt that he was just honestly not able to see my perspective.



I believe that Tim's personal emotions regarding his son get in the way of his messaging on Twitter. As an advocate [and co-founder of AutismAid] his tweets are even more important in terms of autism awareness. He has placed himself under scrutiny and others would take their cues regarding how to regard people with autism.



Aside from hurtful comments made [and the reply that it 'made me think']; I have seen where he has placed the "understanding" on a parent who murdered their autistic child instead of placing that understanding onto the people with autism. Tim also made it his place to declare that I 'gave up' because I was not sitting on top of Twitter, waiting for others to notice our exchanges and ask about them. I also feel that when I made it clear I wanted to have a discussion outside of Twitter regarding treatment options, he provided a format [Twitter DM even though I provided my email] and then ignored the sent DM. Before I offer up my complete rebuttal, I invite Tim to a conversation regarding his experiences, thoughts, etc. as it seems only fair.



So Tim, I ask again for a conversation outside of Twitter. I would like to discuss your thoughts/ideas and find out about your experiences while also sharing mine.