Awareness
I was diagnosed with autism at age 44. That means that f or the first 44+ years of my life, I didn’t know why everything was so difficult. I had trouble making friends; I was mercilessly mocked; I couldn’t keep a job; etc.. Perhaps the worst part, though, was that even when I said something remarkably simple, people never seemed to understand me. It’s not like they didn’t understand the words; they just didn’t understand what I was saying. For example, one time while I was a full-time missionary, I was teaching the friend of a member of our congregation. The discussion was going great until her friend asked me why plural marriage was practiced in the 1800s. It was a simple question and I answered it simply, but somehow both she and her friend thought my response was me claiming God had called me to restore polygamy. (I still have no idea what I said that made them think that.) In hindsight, I guess I subconsciously thought that since I was so incredibly intelligent, the average pers