A situation I really don't know how to handle...

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Recently I finished a HNC course in TV production and while I have passed the course, I haven't made it into the HND year which I'm not too disapointed in because I don't feel that it's the career path I want to follow.
My problem is that I don't feel that I can talk to my parents about this because not only do they seem to belive that I'm exceptionally gifted at it when my skills were only passible at best, but also in similar situations in the past they have taken similar situations as a personal attack on me.

I know I ought to tell them soon, I am rather nervous about doing so.

Oh that's a difficult situation. My parents are the same as yours. It may be that you are quite intelligent but just struggle with certain things. My family see how good I am at some things and presume I will be as successful in others when that is not the case. Quite often anxiety is my main issue and so I fail things that I am intellectually capable of.

You could either sit your parents down and speak to them, or you could write them a letter explaining that you find it hard to broach the subject. If your parents are aware of your AS they will hopefully understand about possible communication difficulties. It might be easier if you can tell them what you do want to do career wise. They may take the news a lot better if you say 'I won't be doing the HND course, but I would really like to do X instead, what do you think?', that way there is a positive spin on it and a question which might deflect their reaction about you not doing the HND course.

I agree with the above poster about possibly coming up with an alternative plan, so that when you tell them it wont just be like "I'm not doing this, so Im going to be wandering around la la la" because of course, parents reaction is to worry about you, out of concern and what not.

It is possible to look at your current level of training as good experience, a good use of your time because you found out some things you are good at, but also found out that it is not an area you want to pursue further. This makes room for you to try something more suited to you and your skills, which is good! If you keep it positive when you present the idea, maybe they will be able to handle it better.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

I second writing it down. An email would be great.