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It can be. It depends on how it gets expressed. And there are always people who live for a chance to be offended.I don't understand why I often rub people the wrong way. Is it offensive or insulting to someone else for me to have bad social skills?
I have had people think i was angry or negative when i wasn't.It's not necessarily a matter of social skills or a lack thereof. Depends. In some cases, it's actually what you're saying, and the tone/implications of it. Or, even moreso, overall attitude.
I've been where you are. But I am no longer there.
Hm, how to say this... well, I'll say what I've told a few others on here. When you bring too much negativity in terms of what you say, or your overall attitude, well... believe me, people notice that. Even if you try to hide it. That dark cloud hangs around you, and people... particularly NTs... can see it like a blazing beacon. It often isnt obvious to the person carrying that beacon. But it's REALLY obvious to others.
And with NTs in particular, they'll be put off by that. Angry responses, or just avoidance, or whatever, is a fairly normal/common response to that. Hand them negativity and they'll shove it right back at ya, often a bit amplified.
And before you try to tell me that this isnt how it works... like I said, I've been there. I've pointed out often that the reason I call myself "Misery" is because of the character, but that's not the only reason. I used to be a really, *really* negative person. Worse than anyone I've ever seen on this site, by a large margin. All the time.
That dark cloud of mine was more like a hurricane. But I couldnt see that. Everyone else sure could though.
Eventually someone sat me down and explained this to me, trying to help me change. After awhile I made the effort, and at a certain point, my personality and attitude flipped. From negative, to positive, dark to radiant.
And here's the thing: My social skills did not improve. I doubt they ever will... I'm on the spectrum after all, and bad social skills were part of how that manifests for me. And I'm still very sarcastic. But my social skills had never been what it was about. As soon as the negativity vanished... so did the problem you're talking about. That "rubbing people the wrong way" idea. It was gone. Just entirely gone.
Doesnt mean it's perfect, I can still be just... rather odd or confusing to deal with. And I have trouble talking sometimes, and I may say or do things that are just kinda loopy. But meeting people? Dealing with people? I dont get rejected or pushed away anymore. Nobody avoids me IRL, nobody tries to push me away or kick me out online, or anything like that. Granted, I still have other issues. But they're WAY less problematic. I even got to work as part of a team during the game-dev project. I was considered to be positive and hopeful by the others. They actually liked me. Some of them, I still know today, years later. What a change, from how it used to go.
I'm going to be very blunt about this: the reason I'm telling you this is because I've noticed a lot of that negativity in your posts and overall attitude over time. Not in relation to any specific subject, or any very specific couple of posts... just in general. I see in your posts over time what used to be a part of me. Like I said, I've been there.
I cant help you get rid of that, though. I can explain this bit here, point it out, but whether or not you can accept that is another matter, and entirely up to you. Accept it, reject it, your choice, though it hangs about you regardless, as it did with me. And if you do accept it, well, what you DO about it is also entirely up to you. Nobody can handle that part for you. YOU have to take the steps. And believe me, it aint easy. Those clouds are sticky.
I'm going to simply leave it at that... I'll say no more about it for now. In most cases, when giving advice of this type, I'll tend to debate or argue it a bit if the other person doesnt accept it. But not this time.
Or you accept the consequences of offending people, which is well social isolation for me.Here's the thing. It doesn't matter why. Once you find out that behavior X is offensive, you just don't do it. You don't ask why. Asking why means you are trying to reason your way out of the fact that doing X results in people deciding to be offended.
Being too direct is definitely a way in which an autistic person can step on someones emotional feed. When I worked on group projects I would always very bluntly tell someone what was wrong with their work, no extra words to make it land better.There's a secret code in social interactions. Actually, it isn't a secret - but people like me have to learn the hard way how to avoid stepping on people's emotional feet.
Your neutral sounds like it's probably many people's negative, outwardly at least. It's a bit of social coercion; the expectation to match other people's energy like that (especially the types that get pissy when you stay in your own lane, truly don't budge for them if it's not needed, waste of time).I have had people think i was angry or negative when i wasn't.
A while ago a driving instructor got mad at me about how i was supposedly uninterested. He was like "well i might as well set you off at your house again if you don't care, you are doing this for yourself you know". Mood wise i was in the same neutral state i usually am. There was nothing to be either excited or angry about, you just drive around in a car, what does he want from me?
Anyway I don't see anything in my life to be happy about. Being happy for the sake of less social rejection isn't going to do it for me.
Have you ever met another autistic person (in person) and had a conversation with them?I don't understand why I often rub people the wrong way. Is it offensive or insulting to someone else for me to have bad social skills?
People find it creepy to talk to yourself in the mirror and smile. Sometimes it is almost paramount to see ones deficit compared to the rest of the world and potentially how your portrayed.A way to start thinking about this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resting_bitch_face
A neutral expression and flat tone of voice has a similar effect - you will be perceived somewhat negatively.
It doesn't matter if it's unfair. These are "hard-wired" NT reactions - they can't be blamed for their evolved behaviors.
The "baseline" for NT's communicating includes a degree of active body language and intonation.
Note that both contribute to the content of the communication - for example emotional state, context (personal , important, urgent, etc), mode (serious, casual, humorous) and so forth.
If you want to see "flat" body language and simplified use of tones, watch video of two people squaring up for a fight.
These aspects of communication can be learned.
IMO everyone on the spectrum should work on them as much as they can. Learning to share in your communication the things that NT's take for granted is life-changing.
It's a small tragedy of ASD that our version of low-empathy is the nicest one by far (compare with how the "dark triad" misuses their empathy deficit), yet we have the hardest time dealing with it.
One of my problems has been a tendancy to get into what I used to call a "verbal avalanche" or what I've learned is "info dumping". If someone asks me a question about something I'm knowledgeable about and they seem interested, I kinda just take off on a coherent, but in depth ramble.
I try to be careful about this but, they take me by surprise. I tend to explain something from start to finish being as complete as possible. The problem is that people interpret this as me assuming they don't know anything about the subject. Or they pull faces that I have learned from bitter experience that mean they don't want anymore information and want me to shut up.
If someone does this when I ask a question it doesn't bother me at all. At my old job (I've talked about it here quite a few times) this would happen quite a lot. There was also a guy working there temporarily that people were unkind to that I got on with fine, but he was often accused of similar negative traits to myself.
We shared quite a bit of knowledge about vintage computers, science and electronics. When we talked about things we would often get into info dump territory. The difference is, I wasn't even slightly offended or upset about him covering ground that I was extremely familiar with. I just found it super fun to talk about this stuff.
First few times this happened, when he left the room, my colleagues would comment on his "bad attitude" towards me. I was left wondering what on earth they were talking about.
I also started to notice some odd behaviour from my manager, who would ask me about what I felt was a good way to fix something. On one occasion he asked me how I would repair a metal statue that had broken off its base. So in an effort to be helpful I explained that soldering could be one option but not the most sound of mechanical repairs, or brazing, but again perhaps not the best solution. Then I explained that welding might be better but not in the sense of a welding torch, more in the style of old black smithing style with heat and hammering.
He got angry at me and said "I know! I'm not stupid you know! I did that at university!" Ok, well if that was the case, why the funky heck did he ask? (I'm using Misery's phrase again!)
In retrospect, I think this was a test, and not the only one. It's projection I believe. People believe you are being condescending when really you are just being enthusiastic and complete in your explanation.
Other than that fun stuff, when I'm concentrating on something, my voice tends to become flat and monotone, which is interpreted as being disinterested and has often resulted in people flying into a rage because they think I'm being difficult or uncooperative.
So I too try to just keep my mouth shut as often as possible. This mitigates the "misunderstandings" somewhat.
I find that what I refer to as "conventional thinkers" tend to be very black and white in their reasoning. Basically "If A then B, always, without exception, things ARE as I see them subjectively."
I've often find my jokes don't land as intended. It's usually because in retrospect, they depend on some obscure reference that I forget isn't common knowledge.Thank you for explaining it this way in detail. I’m exactly the same way and I always find it hard to explain.
Infodumping doesn’t offend me. I prefer deeper conversations to small talk anyway (I think most of us do.)
I think the thing that often rubs people the wrong way about me is that I tend to say exactly what I’m thinking, and since I have trouble processing things I say verbally, sometimes it comes across as really rude. People sometimes think I’m being rude when I’m just asking a question or expressing a thought about something.
My jokes are also often inappropriate or shocking which a lot of people don’t find funny. I find that other autistic people are more likely to laugh at my jokes, actually.
I’m not sure exactly where I was going with this… but I’m not likely to find poor social skills offensive because mine aren’t perfect either. If anything, I’m usually understanding about it.
And I feel terrible if I accidentally offend people. I would think most of us do.
Back in the 1930s-50s they had courses on how to become more extroverted and social. If you were introverted you were foreign and an outcast. (the crazy loner that cant relate)Sadly it is. In our modern age. The demand for being social and outgoing is so high today that 200 years ago it would probably put the most social person to shame. Especially when it comes to employment. I don't think employers demanded this socialization environment just 100 years ago. They needed people to learn their craft, collaborate with others and clock in to work on time. These people view "bad social skills" like terrible table manners. I can understand that you're not supposed call people names or delibertly trying to be mean to people, but when not having enough eye-contact is equevelant to "bad social skills" enough reason not to hire people, then these folks need take a step back and realize what they are demanding. They need to realize that people are very different. Of course there are many Aspies who love being social, let's not forget that.
I don't want to be mean to very social people, but the demand for extrovert mentality has turned into a zombie disease. They want everybody to follow their "we are social creatures" mentality or you're just gonna be an outcast from society altogether. You don't deserve a job. You don't deserve friends. You don't deserve wife or husband. And so on. You're just mentally ill and should be in an institution. Believe me, I've heard those arguments in the past.
I think in general humans with Asperger's have good enough social skills to hold down a job or even have friendships. But that's not enough for these people, their demands go through the roof. It's unrealistic and illogical.
I have to say that, if I was born as an extrovert, it is very possible that I'd have the same crazy position that everyone else needs to be social around me and that the most minor tendency towards introvert behavior would get them fired right away, or not hired at all. It is a very sad situation indeed.