I hardly recognize the intentions of other people. I often realize too late when people want to take advantage of me or are not well-disposed towards me.
Because of this, I learned to perceive strangers as a danger which is causing me anxiety and stress. This is especially an issue when strangers are approaching me. For some reason I don’t have much issues to approach others myself.
I’m not sure how much of this is related to my autism. Can someone relate to this? Is there anything I can do about this?
Yeah, I can’t read another’s intentions to save my life, and (slowly) developed a “fool me once? Bye, Felicia” approach. Thankfully, my friends/family understand why, and I don’t question if they’re gonna be two-faced.
When meeting strangers, I share my boundaries early on that 1)I can’t infer meaning to any degree, so 2)they need to use specific & unambiguous language. At that point, they can’t claim ignorance, so I have no reservations about forgetting their existence & moving on with my life if they don’t pay attention.