I'm aspie and I eventually learned to treat my condition by being "an alien sociologist studying humans with the goal of emulating them well enough to pass as one". For most of these topics, I've leearned to recognize them from "features" (why yes, I work in machine learning...) and found what behaviors seem to make people happier or unhappier, and adjusted my behavior accordingly.
It hasn't been easy. I can't really recommend it. I had to do it because at the time (when rain man came out), people didn't really understand that there are people with far milder forms of autism who learn to cope (at some amount of personal strain).
Many years after high school, my ex-girlfriend said something to me that enlightened me greatly. "That one time when we were sitting together listening to music, why didn't you make a move? In retrospect, I should have initiated". I never ever initiated anything with a woman because, to be honest, I hate rejection, and I can't tell flirting from actual interest. Over the years I've learned women's signs that they want a man to make a move but I also wish society would just switch over to "anybody can initiate".
It hasn't been easy. I can't really recommend it. I had to do it because at the time (when rain man came out), people didn't really understand that there are people with far milder forms of autism who learn to cope (at some amount of personal strain).
Many years after high school, my ex-girlfriend said something to me that enlightened me greatly. "That one time when we were sitting together listening to music, why didn't you make a move? In retrospect, I should have initiated". I never ever initiated anything with a woman because, to be honest, I hate rejection, and I can't tell flirting from actual interest. Over the years I've learned women's signs that they want a man to make a move but I also wish society would just switch over to "anybody can initiate".