Another vital lesson was to avoid repetitive sharing with the same people in consecutive conversations. I once irritated a peer by doing so, who responded, "You told us..." as if I were being random or unnecessary. My intention, whether sharing repetitively or out of context, was never to be annoying. Instead, it was a combination of approval-seeking - a common autistic trait - and subconsciously gauging reactions from my neurotypical peers to assess their level of judgment. 

My peers and teachers, unfortunately, did not recognize that I was deep in thought while looking at them and thought I was staring at them to be uncomfortable or atypical. My self-advocacy skills were not there in junior high, so it was a combination of my lack of situational awareness and the others' lack of understanding. Fortunately, after many instances of reprimand, I learned not to stare and those criticisms decreased.

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