Why were their attitudes snippy?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi:
I went to an Autism conference yesterday where they had three guest speakers and two of them were on the spectrum while one was not. As someone who lives on the spectrum herself I found that the conference was worth the effort since I got to take the day off work for it. It also attended as a side assignment for the type of work that I now do.

The majority of the people who went were teachers, occupational therapists, social workers, people who worked at funding programs and etc.

I found that the a lot of the women who I ran into seemed to have an uppity attitude. I would try and talk to them during break and it was "Hmm," with short dry laugh and a quick smile before walking off. I also found that most of them dressed the same.

I would just saying hello and trying to be friendly and they did not appear to the friendly back.

Then it was right before I left that one I had hit the bathroom and went back into the auditorium since the last lecture was not over. As I was walking back in one of the ladies was leaving and she said "Excuse me" in a very low and dry tone.

I want to know why they were acting like that.

Otherwise I had a great time.

their loss, AFAIC.

Valley of the [Professional-Female] Dolls?!? Just kidding.

Seriously, I suspect that they were required to attend the conference as some kind of in-service training. If so, they probably didn't care about the subject matter, or, especially, someone for whom the topic was personal as well as valuable. In other words, they probably got paid to attend and resented being there. Too bad. Their loss. It sounds like you got more out of it than they did.

Actually I had a choice to attend yesterday and get paid since I don't have to work at the office. I can do it elsewhere as long as it's work related. However I just went to listen, take notes and make connections of my own without being paid. Plus the setting was in a cinema where they gave you unlimited complimentary soda and popcorn. Now there were nice people at the conference and I will say that part. I talked to some of them for maybe a half hour.

It was during lunch time when most of them were going out to eat, while I brought my food, that I picked up on the attitudes.

I experience that from time to time, it is basically a class difference that is manifesting, the women were middle class and they perceived you [and me] to be not middle-class, no matter the actualities.

Sorry, I posted my dream in the wrong thread. I can relate to your post though, sometimes it's really hard to understand why we get that "feeling," that something is off.

I pretty much just ignore it unless I know for a fact I did something to cause it. Some people might just be having their own weird moments and I don't want to distress myself over them and their problems~

Last edited by wozeree on 13 Nov 2014, 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I did not dress like them since I was off work. I normally wear office clothes to work and nerdy clothes when I am off. I decided to wear a Doctor Who t-shirt and brown baggy pants because of the first two speakers being on the Autism Spectrum. One of them knows that most mild spectrum are nerds or geeks. So go figure. I wanted to stand out from the NTs who were being a "Pain in the butt."

One of the spectrumites was in love with my Dr. Who t-shirt.

wow at least with the first one it sounds like an old friend was paying you a spectral visit.

Hi dude! I Miss my Kitty! I hope she's happy.

Again, really sorry about the incorrect post~

I'm convinced you will meet again at the rainbow bridge and to get back to the thread, one must not take these snippy people personally, if not the OP then some other person would get the cold shoulder from their type.

The funny thing is that the older I get the more I realize I don't even want to be the person that everyone gravitates toward. A lot of times, they gravitate to people for shallow reasons. I think it's healthier and more fun to just be yourself and try not to stress too much (although sometimes that stress is a physical sensation and hard to ignore). I'm glad you had fun the next day anyway!

I went to a linguistics symposium once. I got the same response you got!

Forget those schmucks!

sorry this thread got off your topic OP. I found the similar thing that happened to me at a volunteer job. So I don't go there anymore.

That must have been a nightmare for a bunch of NT females!

There's no way for us to know why they acted the way they did. But AspieUtah's suggestion that they had to go there makes sense. plus they were a group and weren't looking to get to know anyone, and your clothes showed you weren't "professional".


I've never wanted to be a person everyone gravitates towards. I never took much interest in my peers, I just dealt with them in school because it made a boring day less boring, but once I left school for the day my minimal interest ended at the school gate. There were some who liked me enough to sometimes want to spend time with me outside of school and in junior high they'd call me too. It was okay in elementary school when we could play, but once we outgrew playing and just mainly talked, I didn't get much out of it since I don't have a lot to say most of the time. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't all that fun. I had a way better time being home and read and take care of my pets and talk to my family. After a long, boring school day the last thing I wanted to be kept away from my interests.

I talked to my boss about the attitudes most of the people had at the conference. I also told her what some of you are suggesting that these professionals were only there by assignment. She thought it was very sad that a lot of the attendees behaved like that.

I did something funny during one of the breaks and I had walked out of a bathroom stall and one of the women in there did not say a word to me. So was sarcastic with her and said "Yeah that's right you're talking to a weird" and walked out.

that person was not worth your expenditure of energy.