Thank you for the advice - I'll see if I can download those books on my Kindle.

You're right... Greta's a very good example of how to deal with these people. She seems very emotionally mature.

The supportive messages really mean a lot, so thanks for taking the time to reply.

Its a jungle out there, seems a lot of people are rushing around angry at things, or other people.  There is a book called Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme which explains it all, and its helped me to understand myself and other people better - I recommend it because it can help you to choose how you react to other people.

Its easy to get angry back, or withdrawn into yourself, because those are natural responses to a threat, but instead you can choose to react calmly, and just let go of angry thoughts or feelings, and go back to your day.  You can't change these people, only change your response.  The stuff thrown at Greta Thunberg is a good example of how society treats people who think, or act, appear, or behave differently (not just autistic people) - it lashes out to try to weaken or shut down people it doesn't understand, or doesn't tolerate.  Greta deals with it well, you have to keep going and be yourself - keep calm and carry on.

I've also read Overcoming Anxiety and Depression on the Autism Spectrum: A Self-Help Guide Using CBT by Lee A. Wilkinson, which helps you to be more in control of yourself and your thoughts, rather than letting upsetting situations eat away at you.  It also teaches you that how you feel is down to you, not other people, and therefore you can learn to change how you react to people and choose to feel different.  You don't have to feel depressed, or anxious - focus on things you can feel good about, such as yourself, or Greta saving the planet, or your favourite things or interests.

Maybe we're the only ones confident enough to really try it

I don't watch any TV shows at all, but I have seen a couple of YouTube clips (maybe excerpts from the show?) where non-autistic people were having a go at stimming - they certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I bet it would work as stress relief for them just like it does for us.

Thanks, Trogluddite - that is heartwarming It's really nice to know that it's safe to drop the mask sometimes. Did you watch 'Richard and Jaco take on the world'? They did a public stimming session to raise awareness of autism. It was a lovely programme in general actually.

I've been there many times myself, so I feel for you. If there's a group of cheeky schoolkids loitering on a street corner, I brace myself for it; my apparently rather Monty Python way of walking is always irresistible to them. So here's something very heartwarming that happened to me earlier this year (it's making me well up just thinking of it).

I got invited out to a friend's birthday at a bar in a town a few miles from home. This is not exactly my favourite kind of socialising, and I was feeling a bit delicate already. But he's a very good friend, and we don't have much opportunity to see each other, so I pushed myself to go. I arrived there extremely flustered, after a stressful walk there because the roads had been unusually busy, which messed my senses up well and good. Going into the pub, which was packed, just made this worse. I pretty much went straight out to de-stress in the smokers area, and even when I came back was very self-conscious that my masking was rather wobbly. I've been trying to lower my mask much more lately, and can do so with some of the people who were there, but I would never dare it somewhere as public as a pub.

A while later, by which time I'd managed to settle myself a little bit, a couple of regulars came in. They came and sat in our group, as they were well known to one of our group who works at the pub. They were father and son, the son autistic. I wasn't told this, nor did I ask. I didn't need to, because his autism is of a kind which makes masking impossible for him. But he's just one of the regulars; there wasn't a person there who wasn't patient with his communication difficulties, not one of them was ever condescending, there were no bulging eyes or secret whispers; his stimming was taken for the expression of enjoyment that it was.

My excuse is that I'd had a couple of pints too many; but I kind of "outed" myself a bit that night, because after a while, I realised that, seeing him so comfortable there, I was having a bit of a rock, too. So I thought; in for penny, in for a pound, and we had a bit of a flap as well!

(Dammit - I should have fetched a hankie before I started writing.)

Thank you, CaliforniaDreamer95. I'd definitely rather be big than a bully.

Thanks for the encouragement - I was upset at first, but I'm not letting them get me down.

Thanks,

Thanks, Roswell - that was a nice, positive read

Thanks, Dice - I really appreciate your support. I'm doing a lot better now - I was really shocked and upset earlier, but I know that I don't want to give those people the satisfaction of knocking my confidence. Feel free to drop me a message whenever you need to too

Hello DuckBread,

Cretins like that aren't worth getting upset over. At the end of the day, they are horrible, vicious people that have nothing better to do than say nasty things directly to, or about, complete strangers.

I am big myself, I always have been. Through high school I was an easy target for other students to take the mickey. 

I know it's easier said than done, just try to ignore them. By doing this you are being the better person, better than they could ever hope to be.

You had bad luck running into him DuckBread, good for you telling him where to go though!! He had no right to say what he did to you. 

 Something positive I can share is a recent news story about a man who looks after trees 

 https://www.positivenewsus.org/this-man-lives-for-the-trees.html

Goodness, that must've been awful for you, love. :(

I hope you're doing okay now-- some people are just awful, testing and picking on others, it's just horrid. You seem like a lovely person in this community, you support a lot of people and try your best, I admire it! If you ever want to talk about these things or distract yourself from things once in a while, you can always drop a message! I'm free to talk about your worries and other things, I can't stand the thought of people going through these things like mentioned. Keep strong. :)

Thanks, Aidie - that brought a tear to my eye. What a lovely video.

watch this

About Autistic Basketball Player Jason Mcelwain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2IU1h9sG7U