I feel like a Freak and cannot not find someone who would want a relationship with me!

I don't know if Jack is considering meeting girls in pubs.....

I'll not even try to pretend I know where youing people go to socialize now, because it is very different from "my day".

I've never been much of a drinker, kept off it for years, and now have a beer and then water for a while, then a beer. Alcohol didn't relax me it confused me and made things worse.

Also I initially avoided crowded pubs and went to quiet ones, where I'd sit on my own the whole time. I think I give off warning messages - miserable git - don't approach. Also I tire quickly and dissociate and look out of it.

Sometimes I got adopted by the wilder bunch in a pub, which gave me some social connectivity, but then found that my association meant no-one else would talk to me. The wild group are usually the ones (well in those days anyway) making audible comments about females in the bar, and were of course the least successful at meeting the opposite sex.

After a while I found the best technique was to stay near the bar and get on well with the bar staff. People come and go, and it is easier to get a conversation going with people passing. You are more likely to meet people you want to meet that way.

The problem for me is difficulty with eye contact. I can look at someone in the face, usually the mouth, but cannot engage eyes. This means I can catch someone's attention to begin chat but talking closer to someone my lack of eye contact, timing and clumsiness quickly end things.

Engaging in more than social contact involves body language rather than speech, so if you are on the spectrum that is always going to be difficult.

If you can find a regular social companion who understands your predicament, they can help you meet girls and give you some support by keeping things going.

Also some people can manage by conversation alone. I recall being in a pub with someone who engaged two girls in a long conversation about a globe he had showing the British Empire in red. And another conversation I witnessed where a friend engaged a girl, who was dressed to kill, in a very long conversation about chess (but she did get bored in the end).

You will hear lots of stories about technique. I think very few people are successful at "chatting up" but they also seem to be the ones who never settle down, so having that supposed gift may not extend to follow-up. So don't be envious of people who seem to be good at it - if they were they'd be married and stuck at home, at best engaging in dinner parties for two couples.

Also some people don't know when to give up. I was quite shocked to see a pub companion years ago trying to chat to a very attractive girl, being constantly ignored and put down, and keeping on trying when it was futile. He had not before struck me as someone who would have any difficulty. But he was just star struck to the point of idiocy.

I don't know if Jack is considering meeting girls in pubs.....

I'll not even try to pretend I know where youing people go to socialize now, because it is very different from "my day".

I've never been much of a drinker, kept off it for years, and now have a beer and then water for a while, then a beer. Alcohol didn't relax me it confused me and made things worse.

Also I initially avoided crowded pubs and went to quiet ones, where I'd sit on my own the whole time. I think I give off warning messages - miserable git - don't approach. Also I tire quickly and dissociate and look out of it.

Sometimes I got adopted by the wilder bunch in a pub, which gave me some social connectivity, but then found that my association meant no-one else would talk to me. The wild group are usually the ones (well in those days anyway) making audible comments about females in the bar, and were of course the least successful at meeting the opposite sex.

After a while I found the best technique was to stay near the bar and get on well with the bar staff. People come and go, and it is easier to get a conversation going with people passing. You are more likely to meet people you want to meet that way.

The problem for me is difficulty with eye contact. I can look at someone in the face, usually the mouth, but cannot engage eyes. This means I can catch someone's attention to begin chat but talking closer to someone my lack of eye contact, timing and clumsiness quickly end things.

Engaging in more than social contact involves body language rather than speech, so if you are on the spectrum that is always going to be difficult.

If you can find a regular social companion who understands your predicament, they can help you meet girls and give you some support by keeping things going.

Also some people can manage by conversation alone. I recall being in a pub with someone who engaged two girls in a long conversation about a globe he had showing the British Empire in red. And another conversation I witnessed where a friend engaged a girl, who was dressed to kill, in a very long conversation about chess (but she did get bored in the end).

You will hear lots of stories about technique. I think very few people are successful at "chatting up" but they also seem to be the ones who never settle down, so having that supposed gift may not extend to follow-up. So don't be envious of people who seem to be good at it - if they were they'd be married and stuck at home, at best engaging in dinner parties for two couples.

Also some people don't know when to give up. I was quite shocked to see a pub companion years ago trying to chat to a very attractive girl, being constantly ignored and put down, and keeping on trying when it was futile. He had not before struck me as someone who would have any difficulty. But he was just star struck to the point of idiocy.