I've heard that Police officers have to go through some sort of training that helps them understand what it feels like to be autistic, so that when they are dealing with an autistic person, they can empathy for the person. I've been sent to the UK to humble me in my driving and map reading skills so I understand how my wife feels when asked to read a map while I'm driving.
Deni swears she'll never go on the Amazing Race with me because we always seem to fight in the car when I'm driving and I ask Deni to look at the map. Quickly reading maps are challenging for Deni, something that I thought came easy to me, until now.
I remember about 10 years ago when Deni and I took a quick trip to Georgia, I was driving and asked Deni to look at the map and find which way I should turn as we were on the freeway and approaching a split in the road. She couldn't find our location on the map, I remember glancing over and seeing exactly where we were on the map, I reached over and pointed out where we were. It didn't help the situation that I could find us on the map while driving 70mph down the road and Deni couldn't.
After experiencing England's roads and maps (and being completely frustrated with them), I think I have a better understanding of how Deni feels when looking at a map and I hope to be more kind and helpful in the future when it comes to maps.
