Why did I blurt that out?

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So I was in class yesterday, and asked my classmate to hand me something. They asked why I was doing that with my fingers (tapping them against each other in a quick motion), so I said "Im Autistic. Autistic people do that". Then their face changed, and they asked "Seriously?"

I usually don't blurt things out like that, and I'm not sure why I did

Because people like us have difficulty "filtering" what comes out of our mouths.

To you it probably just seems natural...

Maybe in the social situation they thought it was different (odd) to see someone tapping their fingers. Nero typicals don't get why we move our hands they just simply can't process that in their minds due to most never seeing someone who is different(autistic). When he said (seriously? ) Sadly most people don't get people who are on the autistic spectrum. When you speak they act surprise because autism is perceived or group together as being non verbal which is complete bs. Since you asked them to hand you something. Maybe it was an instant reflex of your feelings of someone asking you a question back you were not expecting. I sometimes tap my fingers when I get nervous or anxious.

I think it was kind of rude that the classmate said anything. I hate being in a group setting and feeling like people are watching and analyzing what I'm doing. Having someone point it out that way would have probably made my nervous habits even worse.
You don't have anything to feel bad about. Maybe this will give the person something to think about, because it was a comment that they should have kept to themselves.

I don't see anything wrong with what you said. You gave a perfectly valid explanation for your behaviour. I disclose in my classes a lot; when it's a small, seminar-like class, I sometimes disclose (when relevant) in the introductions thing that some profs do during the first class. It's still a little bit nervewracking to do, but I'd rather do that than have classmates puzzle over my behaviour. I don't think disclosure has hurt me so far at all.

I also actually happen to like it when people tell me when I'm doing something that they perceive as strange. It offers me with insight into what they're thinking and what behaviours might need more explanation in the future. I can see how someone might say something like this in order to be rude, but it might also have been a genuine desire to know the reason for the behaviour.

This happened to me once too. I was a little overstimulated because I was watching someone who had injured her back get carted off on a stretcher, and her bloody-murder screaming unsettled me considerably. I was standing in the middle of the hallway flipping my hand back and forth the way people do when they injure themselves, and one of my classmates who was standing nearby asked, "Why are you shaking your hand like that?" I was embarrassed that she'd commented and shoved my hand in my pocket without really answering. I think I said, "Oh, well, you know..." and trailed off without finishing the sentence. I like what you said though Asperger96, I think I'll use it next time I'm in a situation like that.

Don't worry you did not "blurt out", you just gave him/her an honest(but anxious) answer.

How your classmate will take that answer is up to him/her.

I have caught myself in the workplace doing or saying things that either folks comment on or I see them casting me inquisitive looks like "wtf are you doing?"

If these are people I will likely be working with going forward (like people in my department), I find it works well to just laughingly say "Oops, sorry! A bit of an Aspie moment there!".

Seems these days folks often make gentle self-effacing jokes about themselves being OCD or ADHD. One is never sure if they are just kidding around, or making a subtle disclosure. So I sometimes opt to make a self-effacing, jokingly-presented comment about having an "Aspie moment". They usually laugh a bit along with me, but I like that I have planted a bit of a seed in their heads that could explain any quirkiness.

I find it also helps to lighten things up a bit so that Asperger's is not perceived so much like the Bubonic Plague or something. If I choose to disclose I have noted that people react in a way similar to how I present it. So I like to minimize it a bit. If more needs to be said later, then that can be handled if/when the time comes.