Struggling to make friends

Hello, I understand it can be difficult to make friends.

 I thought I found it difficult until I started to connect with other autistic people. Personally, I find it so much easier engaging with my neurokin, rather than trying to make neurotypical friends. Maybe you just need to find your own autistic tribe too!

Hopefully, you feel like this autistic community is welcoming and friendly. You could try socialising more on this forum and then see if you feel more confident.

Also, maybe you need to find people (maybe other autistics) who share the same interests. We usually build friendships on this basis because we have an immediate connection and conversation starter.

This explanation below from the AutCollab website ‘A communal definition of autism ‘ article might help:

A common Autistic way of making friends

To construct trusted relationships and friendships, Autistic people apply an explicit goal oriented approach:

1. Search for people with shared interests, usually online
2. Confirm a shared area of interest
3. Start having fun by openly sharing knowledge, personal experiences, and related gaps of knowledge and questions
4. Explore what can be achieved with joint capabilities and capacities
5. Embark on significant joint projects (examples) to have more fun

I hope this helps. We are your autistic community, we are here for you.

Hello, I understand it can be difficult to make friends.

 I thought I found it difficult until I started to connect with other autistic people. Personally, I find it so much easier engaging with my neurokin, rather than trying to make neurotypical friends. Maybe you just need to find your own autistic tribe too!

Hopefully, you feel like this autistic community is welcoming and friendly. You could try socialising more on this forum and then see if you feel more confident.

Also, maybe you need to find people (maybe other autistics) who share the same interests. We usually build friendships on this basis because we have an immediate connection and conversation starter.

This explanation below from the AutCollab website ‘A communal definition of autism ‘ article might help:

A common Autistic way of making friends

To construct trusted relationships and friendships, Autistic people apply an explicit goal oriented approach:

1. Search for people with shared interests, usually online
2. Confirm a shared area of interest
3. Start having fun by openly sharing knowledge, personal experiences, and related gaps of knowledge and questions
4. Explore what can be achieved with joint capabilities and capacities
5. Embark on significant joint projects (examples) to have more fun

I hope this helps. We are your autistic community, we are here for you.