Well today I met up with a friend who has Autism (I have a milder form than he does, but he is still normal enough to lead an independent life). He stims very bad - always throws his arms up in the air and shakes his hands vigorously, and also makes unusual noises, like grunting and squeaking, and even saliva comes out of his mouth. But I looked around at people to see if anybody stares at him, but nobody was. In fact, I got more looks than he got, and I just walk up straight without no unusual hand movements, plus I was wearing nice clothes (but my friend wasn't - he wears the same top every day, and he does smell a little bit of unwashed clothing). I just thought for someone acting quite different, and for NTs in general being critically afraid of people who look or behave differently, I just would have thought that typically people's attention would be drawn on to him.
But I bet you that if I did go out swinging my arms about and flapping my hands and wearing unwashed clothes, I bet I'll get more people staring at me than ever. I've had 2 girls sniggering at me in a shop once because I kept on looking at my watch - which is doing much less than if I was flapping my hands about.
My mum knows a woman with two grown-up children, (a boy and a girl), and they both have Down's Syndrome, and although they are quite independent, they are rather embarrassing too. They always sound as though they're really drunk - which they're not, and they shout in a slow babble, and when they get excited they jump up and down flapping their hands. But I've been with both of them, and I caught more people staring and sniggering at the girl more than they do the boy.
Once again, don't call me a stereotypical offender, when actually I have been explaining only what I've seen, not what I think.
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Female