The Comic Life

BEING AUTI || Empathy

| madhattey

empathy.png

There has been a lot of articles where doctors claimed that anyone with autism “lacks” empathy for others, and I just..find that to be very untrue and wanting to debunk it. I never thought that autistic people lack empathy, they just have a really hard time expressing their feelings! We know that they can be very honest, and they can do impulsive things when they feel uneasy, and at times it genuinely hurts a person. The autistic mind doesn’t pick that up immediately, but when they do, they feel very apologetic.

Timmy and Brooke were not the closest of friends back in their childhood, but after learning what Tim has to go through everyday, she learns to be very understanding and they have sympathized with each other especially about their their past. I want them happy and healthy-

BEING AUTI || Prolonging Response

| madhattey

unresponsive

People with autism sometimes have a hard time paying attention, when someone calls out their name especially; this is because once they’re highly focused on something interesting, it’s hard to draw their attention back.

Timmy doesn’t respond very well to yelling, and anyone who knows an autistic person needs to learn to be patient. It doesn’t hurt to call their name once again in a calm manner, they’ll listen eventually!

BEING AUTI || Literacy

| madhattey

jokes

Many people with the autistic mindset find it hard to get the meaning behind wordplays and puns, because they’re very literal with pretty much anything. I suppose sometimes when their creativity/imagination is extremely complex and vast, sometimes it’s hard to understand simple metaphors or slangs.

Jared would teach his brother anything that has to do with metaphors, but especially his passionate for telling puns. Not everyone likes it when a joke has to be explained for someone to it, but for Timmy, when Jared explains the pun, the funnier it is. plus he’s a fast learner. Jared is super proud ❤

LANGUAGE.

| madhattey

language

For someone who grows up in Hong Kong and can’t speak Chinese, and as a filipino who can’t speak tagalog.. It’s interesting to hear people’s ‘astonishment’ on how amazing I am at English; well the truth is I still struggle with it; I mean my vocabulary is not as vast as many people, but suddenly I’m really good at english speaking just cause I’m a minority well okay then.

If people don’t say “your English is good!” and ask “Why?”…I mean it’s not impossible for anyone to be raised watching varieties of english TV shows, and movies and be self-taught from there. And apparently if you’re a filipino speaking English in the country, it’s an insult! Even if you’re comfortable enough to speak english, many pilipinos prefer not to, cause if they do, it shows they’re “not proud enough” being filipino.

There were even incidents where mom and I just casually talked while these chinese residents give us indirect judgemental stares; and my mom doesn’t speak the language, but she can actually understand it, so she would whisper to me “those ladies are snooting at us for speaking english; look they’re even trying to speak english right now!”

Good lord, it’s NOT a contest and since when is it people’s business what language you speak; respect mine and I’ll respect yours jeez.

BEING AUTI || Eye Contact

| madhattey

eye contact

Autistic people’s tend to shift their eyes elsewhere when communicating with others, especially when the mind tends to wander; it’s hard for them to look at you directly in the eye, and even though they know how to, it lasts for brief seconds. People would consider this as ‘rude’ unfortunately, and it’s highly important to understand and be patient with anyone autistic.

Back when they were dating, Richard gives that comfort to Tim by facing away from each other so that they don’t have to make eye contact; Richie always knew how to reassure his boyfriend, and Kleinman is astonished by that affection.. and very upfront with how he feels too XD