I'm still trying to adapt to it. It feels like nobody says what they actually mean.
Examples:
"That's interesting" often seems to mean "that's a terrible idea."
"You might want to think about..." means "please change this."
"I'm not sure that's the right approach" means "don't do that."
"It would be good if..." means "this needs doing."
Half the time I'm spending more energy decoding the hidden meaning than actually doing my job.
Then there's all the unwritten social rules. Apparently being direct can come across as rude, even when I'm just trying to be clear and efficient. At the same time, people will hint at what they want instead of saying it outright, and you're somehow expected to pick up on it.
The camera thing in Teams meetings confuses me too. Nobody explicitly says it's mandatory, but then you get judged for not turning it on. I'd rather focus on the meeting than worry about my facial expressions for an hour.
I don't mean this as criticism of British culture. It's genuinely interesting because it seems to rely heavily on reading between the lines, whereas I tend to take words at face value.
For other autistic people, how long did it take you to adjust? Did you eventually learn the "translation rules" or do you still find it tiring years later? And for non-autistic Brits, are you consciously aware that you're communicating indirectly, or does it just feel normal to you?