I just remembered an analogy I made a while ago that I liked.
Many of my friends are not neurotypical and as I am not neurotypical myself one would think that would make it easier to understand them than neurotypical people, but in fact it's more like speaking two drastically different nonstandard dialects of the same language. Both I and they know the standard language, and can understand it, but we can each only easily speak our respective dialects, which can lead to misunderstandings.
@Felthry ...although at least you're capable of conceiving the *idea* that people might think differently from you, and the extent of the issues this can cause. This gives you an advantage over NTs as far as understanding and relating to people who, you know, don't think like you.
@woozle I have some difficulty with that as well, though! I often tend to think things are common knowledge when they aren't, and thinking that my way of understanding things is the one that would make it obvious to everyone else and why isn't the professor teaching it this way instead of that way and all that.
I keep having to remind myself that most people don't think differential equations and lagrangian mechanics are straightforward and easy.
