Aspies can’t handle sarcasm.
This can make life difficult directly when they don’t understand a joke, or they don’t get the message between the lines. This can be awkward at work, or among friends.
It can also make life complicated indirectly in more subtle ways: Since other people are used to getting messages between the lines, those will read such messages between the lines of the Aspie’s communication.
The Aspie would say or write something to the other person. That person will (unconsciously!) read a potentially completely unrelated message between the lines – and react to it.
The Aspie, unaware of the “between the lines” thing, will be confused, surprised. Depending on the actual topics of both the Aspies intended message and the message the other has read “between the lines”, this might already be a big, awkward, potentially breaking and stigmatising “Aspie situation”, where a friendship or relationship ends.
Aspie means what Aspie says
If an Aspie writes or says something to you, Aspie means it literally.
Try to avoid all interpretations with conventional social rules.
For example: Other people might never tell a person that they don’t like them or that they think they did something bad. Instead, there are ways this is conveyed indirecty, “between the lines”. Aspie does not do that. Aspie would say it directly. So whatever Aspie says that might be interpreted as an accusation or offense “between the lines” – isn’t one!
Others might mean something else
If Aspie get a message from someone else, the message might mean something else than the words say.
If the circumstances seem critical or important for work or a relationship: get help from someone else – or the sender! Mention that Aspie sometimes has a hard time to discern a message between the lines.
Masking complications
The situation becomes even more tricky when Aspies are masking:
For example, an Aspie might have learned about that “between the lines” messaging. Now this Aspie gets a totally straight Aspie message from another Aspie – but not know it is an Aspie. Now the receiving Aspie might randomly add anything to the message, awkwardly assuming the other means something that’s not in the actual words.