Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/autism/comments/1vkmijs/whats_something_you_didnt_piece_together_fully/

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The original was posted on /r/autism by /u/PickleGreat654 on 2026-08-10 14:31:54+00:00.

I don’t mean misunderstood cliches (things like “why did the chicken cross the road”) or why society does the dumb stuff it does. I more mean how I didn’t realize not everyone experiences several seconds of blinding pain when they experience sunlight for the first time each day until my early 30s. Or how I thought “picturing” things was just a phrase people used; what do you mean you can actually see things in your mind?? (Yes, I know now that it’s aphantasia.)

More recently, I had several parental figures pass from cancer. When watching a video from a creator I follow who also recently lost a family member (who was actually my age when he died) to cancer, I pieced together comments made by family of my lost loved ones to understand just how painful dying of cancer is. I’ve had several family members survive cancer, so I don’t think I really understood that people who don’t survive are in pain until the very end. I didn’t realize it, but it does make sense. I feel awful not having understood more fully when grieving with family who were closer than I was and saw things more intimately.

So what are some things y’all pieced together later in life than it seems others might?