“Fear not…”

I know we autistics can be off-putting – we might be fidgeting, blunt, picky, or deep in some obsession that appears to make no sense. If you have an autistic person in your family, you might be rightly nervous that they are going to spend the entire day telling you endless pointless facts about trains, dinosaurs, a TV show you’ve never seen or a video game you’ve never played. Yes, that may happen. Sorry. But while we may be irritating, please don’t be afraid of us. We autistics are people too. Reach out and you might find that we’re actually easier to get along with than you thought. Or if not, perhaps sit with us in silence while we both indulge some interest online or reading? Christmas Eve has to be the time to put away fear…