Aspergers and comprehension of NT instructions/questions?

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I remember being in 4th grade math class, and we were doing math equations with turnips somehow involved. Instead of answering the teacher's question directly, I blurted out "Is a rootabega a root crop?" and was promptly sent to the front office for disrupting class.

I remember in childbirth class, I kept making people laugh and didn't know why. I wondered if it was because they thought I was telling a joke or that I said something wrong. Then after the classes, my husband told me while we were grocery shopping that I kept taking the nurse's questions literal so that was why everyone was laughing. I couldn't understand and he said it was because she was talking about health stuff and I listed other reasons instead like why a mother sometimes gets a c section and I listed something they do it because of things going on in their life like special need kids they have. But she did ask what reasons are why some women have c sections. We all listed our reasons and I said that reason. I didn't know it had to be medical stuff only, not luxuries or family events or personal issues.

Yes, definitely! As a child, my hearing was tested various times and I was thought to be partially deaf... All because I couldn't understand and follow instructions or questions. O.O

In a stressful situation, I have found it helps to write down the verbal instructions given to me. I am sure it looks a little odd, but it is preferable to having to ask for the supervisor to repeat. I find that I can better determine if I understand the task if I read it over rather than doing so in my mind. Does this mean I'm a visual thinker? I don't think so. I tend to think in words instead of pictures (as described by Temple Grandin.)

I have improved over the years in this regard. Once I get a chance to become somewhat familiar with the supervisor, I can usually guess the intent of their ambiguous questions or assignments. I then judge whether asking for clarification is worth the negative consequences of doing so. Some supervisors appreciate the employee wanting to be sure of the task, but most don't want to clarify unless they understand the ambiguity. If I am pretty sure I understand the nature of the task, I don't ask for 100% clarity. In most cases, I was correct, and in those cases when I was not can be explained by pointing out how a reasonable person could have interpreted their words that way. This reduces the number of times I irritate the supervisor.

On the other hand, I have encountered some supervisors who are so unreasonable and unskilled in their ability to clearly communicate, that I have had to leave that position to find other people with whom I could better relate.

Well this is where the "No Win Situation" rears its ugly head. I've dealt with these situations before, and have been able to better anticipate them and provide anticipatory questioning to cope, but it still looks weird. Example: in the case you provide, I would have asked "Do you mean in the medical context?" That would probably cause some glances and chuckles among the participants, who would no doubt still be thinking "what's up with this person" or "this person doesn't seem all there". In that case, I try to intone it in such a way that it sounds like I'm asking the question facetiously then they don't think I'm one of the "special people".

This coping tactic seems to work allright, but it only works if I actually catch a potential nuance before the "damage" is done.

Oh, this reminds me!

There was a task-thing a while back (a good three years now), in my Asperger's Syndrome assessment actually.
It was asking, "Give two advantages to driving over walking."
*thinks for five minutes* "It's faster."
*another long silence* "...Protects from acid rain."

I hate it when people ask me to get/move something "over there". I would look/move the object towards the direction I think they are looking at, then they say, "No, over there, can't you see where I am looking?"

Once after several rounds of this "there, no over there" thing with an ex-colleague in one afternoon., I had it and snapped, "Which part of there do you mean?!"