Inside Out Autism

I put my bra on today inside out, as I usually do, and it occurred to me that this is a perfect metaphor for being autistic.

I don’t understand why of all of things, bras would be put on “rightside out,” with the seams to the inside of my body. I want the nicely finished seams as close to my skin as possible. I don’t care what is on the outside.

It’s true that I rarely wear my regular clothing with the tags hanging out, with the unfinished, ragged seams on the outside. But why don’t I do that? It makes no logical sense to always be putting the nicest part of my clothing to the outside instead of to my own skin.

Except that this is what it means to be neurotypical, to always be more worried about something LOOKS to other people, instead of how it feels to yourself. Being neurotypical means always checking to think about how people will SEE you instead of asking yourself how you feel inside.

I think that most neurotypical people do this so reflexively that they don’t even think about it before they do it. They may never even consider the possibility that wearing something inside out would be far more comfortable, but would also have the effect of making them look strange to others.

(I have one neurotypical friend who informs me that she doesn’t notice the seams at all, something that is astonishing to me, but I suppose…