There are some unbelievable drivers where I live in North London.

Reversing into three lanes of oncoming traffic after you missed your turning? No sweat!

Cutting you up at the lights to gain a two-second advantage?  Why not?!

Literal ambulance chasing to get through traffic jams?  All part of the fun!

Now, of course, my own driving is always flawless.  

Or at least I think so.

Because, as the late comedian George Carlin said:

“Anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.”

So true, right?!

And it’s the same in communication.

It’s easy to call people who don’t communicate in the same way as us ‘wrong’.

And to pat ourselves on the back for being ‘right’.

For example, we might say: ‘I’m just a straight shooter – I tell it like it is.  It saves everyone time.  I hate fluffy intros on emails.’

But for someone else, this directness might come across as rude.

For them, a soft intro like ‘How was your weekend?’ shows they’re seen as a whole person, not as just a number.  

So, off the back of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, let’s all be a little more tolerant of our communication differences and more open to different styles.

And perhaps a little less confident in the utter brilliance of our own approach…

Even me.  (Although my driving is still perfect.)