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Scripting

I have heard that autistic people do something called "scripting". It is a coping strategy that one can use in the proper context in response to something someone says.
I had never thought about this, but I've done it over the course of my life. I've used mainly lines from movies such as.Forrest Gump, which still remains my favorite movie 24 years on.
Recently, I've added vocabulary from one of my favorite TV shows, The Goldbergs. If my sibling tries to trick  me into believing something is true (in a good way), my response might be "Yeah, that's not a thing." I pull from movies like Office Space as well. I am told I do a good impression of Milton Wadams demanding his stapler.
Knowing the proper time in which to script is something I've learned to refine over time. I learn by repetition, so binge watching a TV show or watching a movie several times in a row helps me to learn the situations and conversations and how to contextualize.
 Sometimes, I want to joke. Imagine paddle boating with your sibling on a tranquil day at the lake. A pontoon comes near and I pull this: "I don't want your giant box of porn, Andy!" (From The 40 Year Old Virgin) Autistic people are capable of being deliberately inappropriate for laughs. In retrospect, I should have made sure there weren't any kids on board!
I'm still trying to come up with something when I am beginning to experience sensory overload, but my mind gets so tense that there is little space in which to think at all.
When this happens, the best thing I can do is repeat the name of my special interest over and over, stim and/or focus on escaping.
If you are reading this today, I hope you will go and vote. What happens to all minority groups depends on who we put in office.


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