Blog #528: Why Doing Government-Related Tasks Seem Like Learning Another Language in the Eyes of a Neurodivergent?

...

Don Knotts: Speaking Broken French

Dean Jones: "Will you give it to me in English?"

Don Knotts: "Sure, we're lost."

Dean Jones: "Thanks."

...

Now, this may seem like an odd pairing...you've got Dora the Explorer followed by a quote from the first lines of "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo" (1977) and I'm pretty sure you are scratching your heads thinking, "what do these have to do with doing government related tasks?"

To put it simply, while we have been down here in Sanibel Island, Florida since January 27th, myself and my folks knew that we needed to take care of updating our health insurance. While I was at lunch today on Periwinkle Place, my mom asked me via speaker to speak to a representative who would ask me a bunch of questions to grant my permission for my mom to speak to the representative as well as questions to confirm my identity. Then, there was something about getting a form online that I would need to sign with my folks and so on and so forth....confusing jargon that can give you more headaches than good fortune.

...

You might yourself, why do I bring this up? It is because for neurodivergent individuals and even neurotypical individuals, going into discussing about insurance or personal government related matters is like learning another language. You are essentially trying to follow the representative on the other line and understand what he or she is saying. Essentially, it's like an episode of "Dora the Explorer," whereas instead of learning to speak Spanish, you are trying to learn to speak governmental jargon. You may recall a while back that I did a blog about writing and signing forms as a neurodivergent and how it is very difficult for me sometimes.

The same can be said about making phone calls with government organizations. As a neurodivergent individual, it's very difficult to understand what is going on with government related issues. For one thing, you are essentially being held against your will for an undisclosed amount of time by your own voluntarily surrender just because something like calling and reporting insurance is something that you can't run away from. We all need insurance as a necessity, whether it's for car insurance, health insurance, travel insurance and all of these take time and time that you don't want to waste on, but you have to do it anyway.

The fact is that there is a lot about government related tasks that we have to do that makes it seem like we are learning another language. Take for example the works of Dr. Seuss, all his characters spoke in rhyme and in doing so, I created my own language for it, which was called "Seuss." Then, when you are reading or studying Shakespeare, you are learning language that is spoken in English, but is spoken in a highly different manner than typical English. This is the language that I call, "Shakespearean."

The best way to go about speaking in government talk over the phone as a neurodivergent would be to actually plan on doing the call ahead of time. Whereas today's call came out of the blue while I was out at lunch, it's always a good idea to discuss with your parents, guardians or support people to plan what to say, what to do and how you can handle the stress of it. Rehearse what will be spoken between you and the representative, perhaps even hold mock telephone calls with your support person or life coach almost in the manner of a job interview. This is the equivalent of my dad having a translator when he would go to Europe or Asia on business so that the interpreter can translate what he is saying in English.

If there is one thing that I strongly recommend, it would be that you need to plan on being home with your parent, guardian or support person during the call. Don't plan on being anywhere aside from your home and treat the call like a zoom call, in terms of finding a quiet place in your home where you won't be easily distracted. When speaking government, you cannot afford any distraction, such as being out for lunch like I was today. Treat it like a job interview and say to yourself that once you get it done, you will feel good about it and consider it an accomplishment.

...

There are some things in life we cannot outrun and government related matters like talking about insurance and benefits are one of them.

...

Catch you all later!!