u/CreativeConquest303

I would like to date but neurotypicals usually require you to have other relationships like friends and they will subtly check you have close friends before wanting to be close. I feel like I encounter this a lot in trying to date and I wish I could just say I only have online friends and have autism. Maintaining a social network is something I'm trying to work on but I don't want to lie to anyone... But if I feel like I don't then they will judge me. I wish I could just say I don't really enjoy being around people that often in person but I already know how that will go over..... I will say being recently diagnosed at 28 has helped me with stopping the self hatred over this but the real world issues persist.

How do you handle this?