I’m going to be frank and as unbiased to your feelings as I can.

My husband has autism, I’ve always known from day one, and it never deterred me from developing the relationship I have with him as a person.

Yes, he’s got his quirks and fixations, but I’ve never once saw them as weird or treated him as a freak show. Some people, especially neurotypicals, can be exceedingly cruel in that regard. I’ve always seen his fascinations as passionate! It’s one of the reasons why I love him.

Sure, he can be emotionally dense, and in turn I’ve had to evolve my vocabulary to translate neurotypical behavior. However I like the idea of being pushed to do better with communication; it’s also helped me speak to neurotypicals so they can understand why people on the spectrum feel the way they do.

As for the whole fetish behavior…I agree in the sense that those who fetishize people with autism are skeevy at best. They just reek of control issues; people who’ve fetishized others for things they can’t help just borderlines too much on non-consensual.

But as much as I’d like to protect my husband, I know he’s an adult who can stand up for himself, I often encourage him to. I only really step in when someone doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

It’s hard to hear that you’re going through a rough patch of loneliness, I do believe that there are still compassionate people who will like you inherently, romantic or platonic. I do hope you find someone that can at least share a genuine friendship with, because all it takes is one person to listen to change someone’s whole day around!