Probably going to get flamed for this but I've noticed a growing trend in awkward / rude / crap behaviour in people and others jumping to their defence saying that they must be on the spectrum and therefore I should be more empathetic and accepting of this behaviour.
I know lots of people with mental health issues, granted they aren't on the spectrum, have never had this type of dispensation to allow rude / crap behaviour. If they are being behaving terribly due to their issues, most often they will have the self awareness and usually apologise after.
Few recent examples:
- new neighbour has moved in. She comes to my house unannounced on an almost daily basis at one point. Initially, I dropped hints to say that I was busy etc but then resorted to being direct. This worked to a certain extent but she still pops in regularly. She stays at least an hour! The worst was when I was very busy packing the evening before for an early morning flight for my family and she turned up when I specifically told her not to come but she still did! My dsis thinks she's on the spectrum as she lacks self awareness, doesn't understand hints, and lacks awareness of the impact of her staying at someone's house for hours on end.
- woman at work- her communication skills are poor. she is junior to us but checks our work, tells us what to do, never speaks to us but sits there earwigging into everyone's conversations to the point it's actually rude - she blatantly stares at you listening in. She asks for updates on our work and where everything is up to when it's nothing to do with her! On the rare occasion we have worked together on a piece of work she only does the bits I assume she's comfortable with ie leaving us to deal with the customers/ clients side of things whilst she just does the behind the scenes work. If an issue is raised / complaint comes in She never deals with it. She has pissed off lots of ppl in the team with the way that she is at work. It is absolutely not a training issue. Colleague of mine thinks she's on the spectrum so I should accept this behaviour.
Ill be the first to say that I'm not very knowledgeable about autism / spectrum stuff and I don't want to be a twat but genuinely am I supposed to deal with this behaviour and accept it. And why are ppl jumping on the spectrum bandwagon as an excuse? Is it a trend? Neither of these ppl have said they are on the spectrum so why have others jumped in with an excuse of spectrum when they themselves haven't?
If you are genuinely on the spectrum, what do you think of this? Do you find it offensive? In theory anyone could act like a dick at home and work and just tell ppl they're on the spectrum!