I CANNOT LIE
Would I trade any of the gifts being autistic has bequeathed me?
Okay, so that is not exactly true. I cannot lie well, for I have not adequately mastered the body language that those accomplished at duplicity so skillfully employ. This is of course part of a greater complex of common autistic character traits. I am also very literal. I could learn how to lie, I suppose, but considering that I do not foresee a late career in politics, lawyering, or other forms of skullduggery, what’s the point?
The Gifts of the Neuro-atypical
Here is one of my favorite sections of my book. I promise you there is more to come!
ABOUT ME
I am a congregational rabbi on the autism spectrum.
How is that possible? How can I thrive in a profession that is pastoral, that rewards extroversion, that seems mostly for those who intuitively grasp social dynamics? I can’t understand my closest family members most of the time, let alone a room full of people whom I know only peripherally. And yet I have thrived. That is because along with the deficits of being on the spectrum, there are precious gifts that being neuroatypical bequeath me. But, to be honest, it took me a while to find them.
