Being friendly: 3 little things that make a big difference
Oct 16, 2023We are back from fall break!
In the last 2 weeks, I have moved to another state and gone on an 8-day road trip by myself.
While it seems like this would mean less social interaction since I'm no longer around people I know, it has actually required so much more!
On this week's podcast/YouTube episode, I'm sharing three little things our neurodivergent kids can do on a regular basis that make a big difference when it comes to being perceived as friendly.
Why does it matter how we are perceived? Because we all are much more willing and interested in connecting with people we perceive as friendly than with those we don't.
It's definitely possible for someone to be very friendly, but not be perceived that way. This can be due to anxiety, being distracted, or just not knowing that what they are doing is sabotaging their intent.
This episode also involves talking to strangers, which is something I believe is not only acceptable, but necessary in order for our kids to have a meaningful social life.
Here's a clip from the episode:
I got a call from somebody that I know personally. And he was telling me that in his company he has an employee that is autistic. And one of the things that has been, I guess, mentioned about this employee is in their place where they work, I guess there's lots of hallways and offices and that kind of thing. And if this employee is walking down the hallway and somebody is coming in the opposite direction, so they're going to cross paths, this employee will duck into the nearest open office where... empty office and wait for the person to pass and then they'll come out and continue walking. And the person I was talking to was saying, you know, it's super weird. It makes people think that he's very unfriendly. You know, people feel awkward being in the hallway with him. And my brain immediately knew that what this person is doing is just trying to avoid the awkward social interaction because he doesn't know how to have a random friendly social interaction like that. So he's just trying to avoid it. That's all he's doing. With zero awareness of how he's coming across to everybody else. Zero awareness that everybody else thinks that's super weird.
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