Yes, it does seem to be extremely common. I think it is a combination of the uncertainty (not knowing who is on the other end, very anxiety-inducing) and the difficulty many ASD people have with verbal communication, which anxiety aside, just makes it a really hard task to complete requiring a lot of effort and concentration.
I have always been terrified of making phonecalls to the point of emotional breakdown. I recently had a really important financial-related phonecall to make which I HAD to do, and it took me a month to make it. My coping strategy is to pace up and down practicing the conversation (or how I think the conversation will go as best I can predict it) and repeating to myself what I am going to say so I can better remember it if I go blank during the phonecall. After weeks of doing this, I finally made the call, only really because I would be in trouble if I didn't. The person I spoke to was very nice and helpful, so I don't even know what I was afraid of. But making calls (or answering if I don't know who it is) is one of the hardest things in the world for me to do. I had a job where making phonecalls wasn't generally required but every so often I would be asked to call a customer. I always lied - I would pretend to dial and say there was no answer. Fortunately it was infrequent enough that I got away with it - I honestly didn't know what else to do, there was no way I could make the calls they asked me to and I had no way to explain what the problem was.
It's really hard to manage in a society which relies on calls so much.
07 Nov 2012, 11:26 am
