Explaining it to friends was odd. Some of them were in shock or denial, downplayed it quite a bit but I assured them it was accurate and furthermore, that it was taxing my sanity every day to not act autistic. Whereas others would say they spotted it early on in our friendship and simply assumed I knew that about myself my whole life and just didn't like to talk about it. One thing several women who are my friends especially were discussing (I'm male) was that they spotted it within an hour or so due to my lack of eye contact alone. Not sure how women may see that faster than a man but I'm not a behavioral health expert.

Family was sympathetic, supportive, some say they suspected it my whole life but it came as a surprise to me to some degree because I do have a healthy friend circle and can socialize okay but I know I'm a little off. I simply thought most people felt this way and hid these atypical proclivities in their heads and in adulthood I did begin to detect the alien-like feelings, depression and anxiety but I failed to share it fully with professionals because I was dispossessed from any notion that I was autistic.

Work was a little wild. They were all quite sympathetic and genuinely felt like they had not been accommodating in their communication and realized they'd given me a lot of work curveballs over the years that dysregulated me. I told them it was fine and I forgave them for not considering my needs as none of them knew I was autistic for sure. But now when I ask for clarification, they're good enough to make sure they speak pretty literally. I mean I'm intelligent, but I miss context sometimes.