Autism is a complex subject so I can’t speak to your specific difficulties. If you rely more on your bond with someone, your shared experiences and what you know of their desires and fears, as well as any difficulties they may have - all of this forms a body of context through which the words they say must be filtered.

Often enough the primary meaning of anything is plain, but people are not so ordinary as to only mean one thing when they speak. Each of us is a four-dimensional being of divine chaos at the infinite centre of creation, the way I see it (without pretending this is a sane view). A more grounded way to put it might be that everything we do and say resonates with the uniqueness of all our experiences and circumstances, and there are always layerings to consider. Only by knowing a person more deeply can we learn to “read between the lines” when they speak, but to begin with it should suffice to listen charitably, beginning at a place from trust and positive regard.

I’m writing under the influence of a book I’m currently reading, so please forgive me. I am not usually so florid. But I am speaking in earnest, I hope that shines through.