CHANGE REACTIONS TO AUTISM.

Tonight I went shopping at my local Woolworths supermarket and the card reader machine was playing up. I inserted my card but it said on the screen, "Card read failed." I remember the old days where your card had to be inserted into a press style device and a slip of paper was placed between it and a roller device that made an imprint of your card and you signed it and/or the operator had to ring up and verify it with your bank. I also remember when you had to sign a printed slip. Nowadays, cards have a microchip or they can be tapped, or you can even pay by phone using an app. I then had to swipe my card.

There was a Muslim customer beside me and I said, "If I see you at Ramadan time, I'll wish you Ramadan Mubarak." To which they said, "Thank you." I told the sales assistant who was standing next to me that I believe in inclusion. She asked me why. My response was, "Well, I'm autistic, and I want people to be inclusive of me. And I treat people the way I want them to treat me." Her response took me by surprise in that she said, "But you can come in here and do your shopping and you know how to use these machines." Okay, I remember a woman posting that her son was permanently banned from a chain of supermarkets in England because he became distressed because the staff wouldn't open a checkout to serve him, but I say, the machines aren't THAT difficult to use. Autistic people can drive a car, manage their money and shopping, and operate a self-serve checkout, and, if anything it's easier to operate a self-serve checkout than it is for an autistic person to be a checkout operator. Over half a lifetime ago, I had such a role and with more than one machine beeping, I had to be sure it was mine and not the one beside it, and what comes up on the cash register is beside you while scanning. With self-serve checkouts, it's directly in front of you, so you can see what you've scanned on the screen. Also, the beeping drove me crazy.

I talk to some of the staff members (there's one woman who is hearing impaired and LGBTIQA, who has an autistic nephew). Okay, they have to be polite to me, as I'm a customer, but some of them have said that I'm a nice customer (I haven't given them any reason not to think that). I said to this one that sometimes, when I go in, I don't feel like talking to others. And it's true, sometimes I don't. Other times I do.

To assume that an autistic person could find working in a supermarket overwhelming is not unreasonable, it's one reason why I go at night-time, but to assume that an autistic person can't do their own shopping is. To also assume that an autistic person doesn't get cabin fever is also somewhat unreasonable. Okay, most of us autistic folks are not party animals, but sometimes we need to get out to do some things.

One thing that I would say for myself, and hindsight is always 20–20 vision is that if an autistic person chooses to live alone, what they need, if they rent a place is to ensure that they have space for several things. One, they need to ensure they have enough money left over to partake in their special interest and some therapy. By therapy, I do NOT mean ABA, that's abuse, I mean, say adult colouring in, building and painting models, or what have you. Two, they need a place with enough space for their activities, so they may have a hobby room set up with a desk for a computer, a desk to sit and do adult colouring in, a table for building models and whatever else. Three, they need to have space for sleeping and ensure this space is not subjected to mental fidgeting. You don't need a space for other people, but you do need to keep occupied if you live alone.

So rather than thinking that autistic people are incapable, accept that our brains function differently and we may surprise you, despite the fact that some of us have mental health vulnerabilities.