Five social skills autistic people can teach neurotypical people

Five things autistic people can teach neurotypical people:

1. Honesty

While this trait can cause embarrassment or shame, it also means that this person hasn’t figured out how to lie, hide real feelings, sweep things under the rug, or be manipulative.

What if we were more sincere? Wouldn't it absolutely improve our relationships, with others and with ourselves? Honesty breeds trust; this opens the door to healthier relationships.

2. Fearlessness

No fear. This phrase can strike terror in the parents of autistic children. It can mean that they struggle to identify potentially risky situations. As parents to socially gullible children, you feel an obligation to monitor/defend.

These days, and especially during this pandemic, parents all too regularly are filled with anxiety when they think of their child being on their own, trying to navigate this confusing world.

However, the ability to live without fear — to “go with the flow” — can be a true blessing and something we can learn from autistic people.

3. Quietude

In a room full of humans, silence is hard to preserve. We are conditioned to a consistent hum of noise — we grew up in an electronic world with a radio or television usually on in the background. We are surrounded by outside noise — from the din of traffic to the barely perceptible hum of electrical appliances.

Silence may be eerie and unnerving while you aren’t used to it.

For an autistic person, silence is like medicine, when they're feeling overstimulated from an excessive amount of noise. “Remember what peace there may be in silence.”

4. Solitude

Silence’s twin is solitude, and the simplest way most people can truly acquire silence.

Most people don’t mind spending some time alone, but humans are social creatures — we typically choose to be around others. Being alone is occasionally associated with feelings of despair and isolation… however, a mind-set shift can make it something totally different.

Some autistic people need alone time to self-regulate and recharge, as respite from a confusing and overstimulating world.

5. Routine

Even as routine and sameness is another hallmark of autism, it isn’t in and of itself an awful trait. We can learn from autistic people who value preservation and conservation of things.

We’ve misplaced our loyalty to everything from manufacturers of cereal to lifetime relationships. We look to exchange and trade what we've got for something else, or someone else, without cultivating the concept of enough. Autistic people can show us that sometimes, keeping things the same may ultimately bring us more peace and happiness.

Honesty, fearlessness, quietude, solitude, and routine are characteristics and values that can benefit us all. Of course, autistic people are not a monolith; what is true for one person is not true for another. The key is to see yourself in others, and to see others in you.

What do you think?

Are there things you wish neurotypical people could learn from neurodivergent individuals? We’d love to know!