Parents

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How many of you have parents just don't understand your autism?

hello dt18
my late father didn't seem to get me, even though he had relatives who clearly were "different" in a similar way to me. maybe he didn't want to be reminded of the "crazy" [his word] family genes.

My mother understands to a degree however my father just cant grasp it.

My mom's in denial. She has repeatedly told me that "I have that, too," as though that makes it completely normal to collapse after social events or eat the same thing every day for years. As far as I can tell, she's almost certainly autistic herself, because she has many of the same traits I do and some I don't; and off-the-record, I've had several professionals tell me that she's a textbook case, having survived many of the social impairments by depending on multiple husbands to basically take care of her. Unfortunately, since she thinks this is "normal" because she's the same way, she won't acknowledge that I'm autistic and just tells me to try harder all the time. On top of that, she's an occupational therapist... which may make it worse because she works with severely disabled people in nursing homes and special education classrooms, and has somehow gotten the idea that ALL disabilities are severe.