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Francesca Baird – blogging about Autism and straight talking

The following is a short extract from my book ‘Label Me: My Journey Towards an Autism Diagnosis’

Now everyone knows that people with autism are straight talking and tend to be honest, right? Well, from my perspective of how I function, I do and I don’t agree with this. I undoubtedly say it like it is and have always considered myself as honest. I have never really understood people who tell little white lies. I mean, what is the point in that? If you are going to tell a lie, you might as well go big! However ‒ and I will come back to this later – there are situations in which I have not been completely honest and so I guess I could be considered a hypocrite. (Note that, even though I am the one saying this, I don’t actually believe I am). I would never want to hurt someone with my words and will always try to refrain from saying something I would deem to be hurtful, even if it means avoiding the truth. However, I cannot promise that my non-verbal communication would follow suit. Equally, I would never say that someone looked lovely if they looked bloody awful, as that would involve making a conscious effort to go out of my way to lie and would make me feel extremely uncomfortable.

Having said all this, I do recall an awkward moment when I said something inappropriate and brutally honest in front of a customer during one of my shifts at Miss Selfridge. The customer asked me where a top that was displayed on a mannequin could be found in the shop. While standing beside the customer, I shouted to a colleague at the other end of the store: “Rach! You know that top… the really ugly one on the mannequin, where is it?” Rachel ignored my request: in fact she ran into the changing room to escape the embarrassing situation, leaving me to locate the top and confront the customer with it.

Needless to say, the customer did not make a purchase and we lost the sale.

(Photo: Francesca Baird ‘Me and My Mum’

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