Do you need a lot of context to understand what people say?

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I've had this problem a lot with my partner-

we'll be having a conversation, and he'll say something, and I'll ask him "in what context do you mean that?"

And then he'll be confused and say "the context is the thing we were just talking about". But we were talking about a lot of things, and from my point of view the statement was too broad for me to be able to understand what it's connected to.

Does this happen to you? Is it autism related?

I think it is probably Autism-related.

My understanding is that Allistics don't describe things well because they assume you know what they know, and they also lack precision...they figure it's fine if they get it close enough.

This often causes confusion when my Allistic bride tells me stuff.

She's ADHD. I keep telling her she should get the Autism upgrade. She insists she doesn't want it.

yes, many times I will stop somebody and say, "I don't understand, please explain to me again, using different words" So may people will just shout the same phrase repeatedly in a louder tone of voice. argh!

It depends.

With some people I'm so literal that I don't get their context, especially if it's about anything pop culturey.
With other people it's like we share a mind and I know what they mean almost instantly, without even using words.

Yes.

Which/how/when X?

Do they want details or not? Do they want this part or that part? Do they want this much or that much?


In my case, it's a combination of memory and processing issues and this language issue in general.

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I don't think I'd quite know what to say if I were asked to explain the context of something I'd said. Not saying it's an unreasonable question. Maybe it would help to offer a possible answer and ask if it's that?

Yes I do

This happens to me all the time.

Yes, it's autism, but that's only half the problem. The other half is the neurotypical assumption that you can read their mind. I would reiterate what Double Retired said.

I know I do... I have sometimes find myself asking lots of clarifying questions, and even then all sometimes go away thinking I haven't understanding of what was talked about only to find out that I truly didn't, and that I missed some pretty important details or understood the situation incorrectly

Good thing is sometimes that actually works out surprisingly well...

Have so many years of having to mentalize my way in and out of conversations.. Now have a large enough body of knowledge to anticipate many NT discussions .And when low or out of spoons..means NO CONTEXT, no understanding ...And have to fight not getting angry..If spoons are out . And often times NTs do not have adequate language skills to make context adequately in a convo sometimes . So have developed skills for using much easier to understand wording for some conversations . But it can be difficult. And am not a hugely social Person..
but due to good masking skills from growing up around the Larger scale entertainment businesses Can play that role just like on TV for certain periods of time.