Meme: Cartoon man labeled as "Me having a conversation with normies" visibly having difficulty deciding which one of two buttons he should press. Button 1: Over explain everything to not be misunderstood. Button 2: Stay quiet to avoid upsetting them or seeming suspicious.

Alt text: Anyone: "You look nice today" My anxiety: "They are making fun of you"

Meme: 4 panels of a man progressively putting on clown make up and wig.

1st panel: memorize a few scripts and jokes

2nd: remember to ask people questions about themselves and give them compliments

3rd: have a few practice conversations with myself before attending

4th: I'm going to fit in so well at the party.

Edit: Woo! I did it. I didn't really need to prep since I wasn't expected to socialize, just ask random women to dance. I asked a few ladies I had never seen to dance. They were pretty new and nervous, so I made sure to authentically compliment them and build their confidence. Afterward, I found a few ladies I had known for a while, and danced with them. One was fantastic! She had legit natural rhythm and was fun. I haven't had a dance partner like that in while, so I hope I get to see her more often. There was one new lady that was obviously a professional dancer, and I wanted to see what I could pull off with her, but ofc she was taken every time I went looking for her.

The shitty part was that it was wayyy too crowded, there were no quiet places, and drunk people were unintentionally rude with their lack of spatial awareness, so I would leave and go next door to take a sound break. My head is still ringing. Maybe I'll take sound dampening ear plugs next time. But in summary, it was nice. I plan on going more often, even if beforehand I think I am going to look like a clown 🤡

Meme: 2 panels.

1st panel: Old man bracing to be hung by his neck at the gallows. He is labeled, "NY that was wrongfully accused of hurtful intentions."

2nd: James Franco, labeled as "Autistic people" and is also about to be hung by the neck at the gallows, looking amused at the old man, saying, "First time?"

Image: Forrest Gump looking perplexed.

Caption: When I asked the VA for an autism assessment, they said I couldn't be autistic because I was in the military...and just like that, I didn't exist anymore.

Regarding the title, the Veterans Affairs claims their core values are I-CARE:

• Integrity: Act with high moral principle. Adhere to the highest professional standards. Maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage.
• Commitment: Work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries. Be driven by an earnest belief in VA’s mission. Fulfill my individual responsibilities and organizational responsibilities.
• Advocacy: Be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries.
• Respect: Treat all those I serve and with whom I work with dignity and respect. Show respect to earn it.
• Excellence: Strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement. Be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them.

Image: 3 Panels.

1st panel: Little kid with teary eyes looking up at adult saying, "So all those behaviors I was punished for as a kid were just autistic traits?"

2nd: Adult looking down at kid with a compassionate expression, saying, "Yeah, and those traits don't make you a bad person."

3rd: Adult is lovingly hugging the kid, while kid seems to be taking a moment to process.

Image: 4 panels of the same lady making thinking faces. There are some mathematical figures, equations, and matrices throughout.

Caption: When you contribute something you think is completely normal to a conversation, and people react by looking at you then laughing

Relevant ADHD meme

Alternatively, autistic (coded) behaviours just being a joke.

Image: 3 panel stick figure comic. The first two is of the same person smiling. The last one if the person with a troubled face and has "realization" written above.

The last time this happened was when I realized that people ask me questions about how I know things to start a conversation, not because they want to know how I know things. Example: https://lemmy.autism.place/post/116248

Caption: When you ask an Autistic person to do something, make sure to attach a timeframe like "today," "or at 3 PM," (avoiding demanding words like "now") and a definite personalization of who needs to do the thing that is being suggested. If one or both of these things is missing from your request, we will not see them as a request, but a passive statement, and it will not get done.

Image: 2 panels with an alien speaking to a person. One panel is labeled "incorrect" and the other "correct".

Incorrect: The alien's statement is written in a bubble shaped like an arrow. It points from the alien's mouth to the person's ear, stating, "The trash needs to be taken out." There is another empty arrow pointing out of the person's other ear.

Correct: The alien's statement is written in a similar arrow, stating, "Please take the trash out in a minute." The person responds, "Sure." There is no other arrow pointing out of the person's other ear.

Image: Lady focused on using a laptop.

Caption: Me googling the number that just called instead of answering like a fucking adult.

Image: Screenshot of microblog posted by Victoria | Save the Neurotypicals (@SNeurotypicals) dated 2022-10-10.

Quote: Neurodivergent screening tests will be like "do you struggle with wearing socks" and ND people will be like "nope does not describe me, for you see I have a System" and folks that is what the question is getting at

Caption: When the dentist moved into my range of vision so I look somewhere else.

Image: 3 panel comic. Each panel is a cartoon drawing of a person's face laying back. The person is looking in different directions in each panel.

Image: Cartoon drawing of two people sitting on and looking out of opposites of a bus. The one on the left is sad looking at a hillside. They are labeled, "Someone who think I have beef with them." The person on the right is happy and looking at a beautiful view. They are labeled, "My autistic ass who has no idea what I said was offensive."

Image: Screenshot of a microblog post quoting another post. The quoted post states, "autistic people will see a 'honk if you like pizza' bumper sticker and think it means 'if i like pizza, i should honk'". The blogger that quoted that wrote, "Wait..."

Caption:

My brain: Do it.

Me: Why

My brain: Just do it.

Me: Okay

Two images:

Top image is of a pen. Bottom image is the same pen dismantled with its parts neatly placed to show where the go in the pen.

Image: bingo card labeled "bad at being a person bingo"

For the sake of describing this card through a narrative, the columns from left to right will be letters A thru F, and the rows top to bottom will be numbers 1 thru 5.

Edit: I just realized that I absentmindedly relabeled the columns from BINGO to ABCDE. I like mine more anyway.

Meme: Expanding Brain, 4 panels, each panel representing more enlightenment than the previous.

1st panel: repressing recent interpersonal difficulties

2nd: blaming difficulties on neurodiversity and getting mad at ableist society

3rd: discussing difficulties with a therapist

4th: processing difficulties and gaining insight by posting memes on Lemmy

Meme: Board Room Suggestion, 4 panels

1st panel: Supervisor demands from his team, "How do we get them to think of us romantically?"

2nd: Three people in the team respond.

• First man: Disingenuously laugh at their joke.

• Woman: Hit on someone else to make them jealous.

• Second man that is relaxed: Explicitly tell them you want that.

3rd: Supervisor looks angrily at relaxed second man.

4th: Outside view of office building with relaxed man thrown out of a window

I'm sure there are very good reasons for why people flirt and communicate romantic interests implicitly. However, to me and my concrete literal thinking style, the whole thing is confusing. Sometimes I pick up on it, but I'm sure I miss most of it since when I was younger and used to go to places, friends would have to tell me if a girl was interested in me. When I would get home, I would recap the night with my friends to see what they thought. In general, it leaves me feeling lots of self-doubt in these situations, so I end up playing it extra safe to avoid making others uncomfortable. However, it would be nice if people were more explicit with me in general.

Maybe I can make a checklist of flirting signs that I can keep on a phone app. When I start getting confused, I go through the list to make a thought-out assessment.

Bonus: Casually Explained video providing tips for noticing romantic interest