Poem: "Why Autistics Make Good Friends"

This poem came out of the January 2012 Crowdfunding Creative Jam.  It was inspired by a prompt from meeksp and is posted here as the freebie for this event.  Some time ago, I watched a documentary about an autistic woman who works as a consultant for animal-handling facilities such as farms and slaughterhouses.  She uses her atypical thought processes to identify things that might bother the animals so those can be fixed.  I figured that if some autistics have perceptions similar to animals, that might relate really well to people with species dysphoria too.  (Details vary, so it doesn't apply to all autistics; but this seems to be an established possibility, as I've seen other examples since.)  So when meeksp asked for "why autistics make good friends," I put all that together...

They understand what it's like
to be all alone in a crowd.

They know that "normal" people
are strange, strange creatures.

When you get all peopled out during a party,
they will nod and leave with you instead of bitching.

When the sirens give you a headache,
they will give you some earplugs instead of an argument.

They will not look at you funny when you smell people,
as they have not internalized the mainstream social rules either.

They will not come into your territory
and wander around touching your stuff.

If you come into their territory,
they will not ask you to touch their stuff.

If you say the loose cord on the fan is driving you nuts,
they will tie it out of the way so it stops swinging.

They will not pester you when you need to be alone,
nor expect you to be there for all of their personal stuff.

They will never say you're weird just because
your soul is furry and your body is human.