I’m learning that being told “you’re too sensitive” and other such remarks is considered gaslighting. However, as autistic individuals, we are known for being highly sensitive, both with perceptions and emotions. So, I find myself wondering if perhaps I need to consider that I am more sensitive than the general population and accommodate what I see as their insensitivity, dismissiveness, and blame-shifting.

How do you handle being told “you’re too sensitive”?

What do you think would be a healthy response?

  • Wes_Dev@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I don’t have an answer, but I have family that will say insulting shit as if it’s nothing, then get mad at me if I react in anyway.

    Like my mom drinking on the weekend, and telling me I don’t know what love is and should just go ahead and get a girlfriend already.

    … I’ve been in love, and I’m super gay. And if the child doesn’t know what love is, I feel like that’s the parent’s fault, isn’t it?

    But no, I can’t say anything without it turning into an argument and them complaining about how I take things too literally and “read too much into things”.

    But then if they ask me a question and I don’t hear them, their immediate assumption is that I did hear them, I understood their question, I’m able to answer immediately, I’m intentionally ignoring them, and my goal is to be disrespectful. So they immediately start ranting about how disrespectful I am, instead of just asking if I heard the question.

    And then they wonder why I don’t like talking to them.