I joined here not long ago to find out more about the autism spectrum...and I am so glad I did. Your posts about what it's like to live in an NT world, the good and the bad parts, really made a difference in my perception.
This week, I was hanging round with my friend Tara, who is fun and sweet, when she said that her brother in law Alex was coming round. She mentioned he was mildly autistic and warned me that he's kinda difficult socially, because he doesn't look you in the eye, distrusts everyone he doesn't know and insists on preplanning every minute of the day. So some encounters go horribly wrong.
Well, my brain anxiously went through everything I've learnt here so far about not being a neurotypical prat, which condensed into 1) don't stare and 2) chat but don't be pushy.
Turns out I needn't have worried; after the initial awkwardness of saying hello Alex was super nice to me. I even got to see one of his paintings and he made a point of adressing me by name several times to tell me stuff...and stare me in the eye (huh?). And we all ended up giggling a lot. Anyway, it was a really pleasant afternoon.
Thank you to everyone here, and espeically people posting in the Open Hotline thread, for helping me understand that odd things cease to be odd once you know why people do them.