What Friendship on the Spectrum is Like for 7 Autistic Adults! | June Creator Collab 

The wonderful thing about your channel, Jenny, is how you are bringing the community together. The space is safe and fun. TY

Lovely Video Jenny I already Sub to everyone here, what a lovely way to bring everyone together. Have a lovely Day. 🙂

I didn't know what to expect. I have lost hope in watching videos about autistic people talking about friendship. The main reason being that the experiences are all different. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I related to at least one thing from everyone. It was more down to earth and realistic regarding the struggles. I would love to get to know every one of them. My favorites were Lizzie, Karen, Auditing with autism, and Lauren.

Thank you Jenny for bringing us together. These collaborations are really special and much needed.

Thank you for another great collab, Jenny. I can't describe how comforting it is to listen to other people describe the friendship challenges they have had and the solutions they have come up with.

What an amazing video, with such a difficult topic ! Thanks to every person who took part in this collab, I've been able to relate to each and every one of you ! Friendship is a real struggle for us, to the point it's part of autism stereotypes, and people thinking we don't want to have friends, when they just don't have any idea how hard it is for us !

I have two long term friends and my boyfriend. I was friends with him for 2 years before we started dating. I have trouble making friends but I am better at keeping them. But I am very cautious about getting to know people. It is safer to get to know them little by little.

Very great video. I related lots to Neil, because most of my IRL friends/aquantiances, are mostly from Undergrad(College) and Grad school(University). I talk to them online, and see them in person sometimes. It's easy to make friends if you have similar interests and lifestyles to them, and thats where the strongest friendships form tbh. It's hard to find like minded people IRL, but it's not difficult, you just have to put in the work to find those kinds of people.

I just kept thinking "Yes! Yes". Well i liked everyones contributions. Im too much of a scatter brain to piece everything together. But i related to many examples and enjoyed the advice at the end from i think it was Lauren (?) Sorry if im wrong. 😅 a friend accepts our uniqueness. Well and i agree with you Jenny my parents are also my friends. I trust them.

It was great to see some faces of people I recognize in the community! Auditing with autism... My human suit... And spicy Lauren! Things from every single contribution was super relatable. Awesome job guys!

Aww, Jenny, Your furry compagnion is very cute! As a animal-maniac I'd love to see and hear more of him🥰

Don’t feel bad for not feeling comfortable doing live streams. Everybody do what you’re best at, we don’t all have to do the same things. And what YT (the company and algorithm) wants you to do is even less important. These collab videos are small gems in the ever growing see of autism content. Please keep doing them for as long as you like. I think they’re amazing and unique (so don’t be surprised when other creators start copying your format)

Finished now and think I relate most to Lauren as for me the maintaining is the harder one. I just used to withdraw to often beeing afraid they do if I am not feeling well and am too much me then (=not able to mask any more but didn't know about earlier) But as a result they are gone then when I feel good enough to go back out. So, whatever I do is not working yet. Still try to figure it out, just this days talked to best male friend from school (we had this friendship plus thing for decades, but mostly are just friends) know each other now for more then 30 years and he is one of the persons just accepting. We don't have to meet each other in person or text/talk regulary. Often years don't meet or don't talk for months if one is busy with something, but that never questions how import we are for each other. He did know that I was diagnosed with ADHD around 15 years ago and now we had a long talk and I tried to tell him about the additional autism and what that means for me. I think it explains quite well a lot of missunderstandings we had. Before we had our scheduled (do this for years now) phone call (we live in different cities) I texted him some things that would make it much easier for me and why and he just accepted before I told him the backround. It was such a relief! I was so afraid of opening up and ask for those things like trying to talk a bit slower if I tell him it's getting too quick, let me have some silent breaks to process, just some small things. Of cause we then interrupted each other again and he talked very quick (which I said before is not a bad or good thing, just extremly challenging for me ALTHOUG I DO MYSELF OFTEN😊 But to have texted about before made it easier to name it when it happened, laughed and again tried better . And then after a while he said "I have thaught about this and that, I was told that I do this by A and B...hm, do You think I might also have ADHD, is xyz connected with it?" 😂 I gave him some information and what could maybe help him to read/watch to find out if something resonates with him. And that I did think about in the past, but as he is doing quite great in life with most things didn't thaught it's a thing I should initiate. But that I am there for if he has more questions. Interesting. I must say I would love if we both get diagnosed so late in life. Ah, and of cause he is quiete nerdy, a programmer, has also studied maths and physics for a while, my last present for him was a handmade artist-version poster in a frame with storm-troopers I saw on a arts-market. But we play different kind of computer games😅 This is so much stereotype, but it is like it is😂 OMG I feel so much relief this friendship is safe, worried about so much for months...

Friendships and even groups of friends unfortunately are painful concepts for currently. Since i lost many friend groups and recently in the last year there was a dramatic ending to a recent friend group i had since high school. It was very painful but i managed to detached but I still have become way more avoidant of making new friends and now i just settle with just acquaintances or mom friends from school where I only see at school events every few months. Being around people is exhausting and as I age I need way more time to recuperate from people and sometimes i burnout and ghost for months on end. I'm lucky to see the few friends once a year at this point. Even my online friends have dwindled down to only like 2 (I had many from sharing similar niche interests that got me friends). I am in my 30s now and I'm cool with it just being me my husband and child with two cats. the friends i do still talk to are online only and thats just fine. I prefer ND friends but I have at least two NT friends (my husband and a friend I occasionally send bday texts too because shes very busy but we plan to see each other soon once she is done with her nursing licensing exam and pass it) and honestly I am just fine with that. I am done with groups and having just one on one relationships is just the best for me. My own advice is unless you put yourself out there, do not expect people to look for you to be your friend and if they do you too must be willing to work on the relationship just like they have. If not then be content being alone and find love yourself bc you can't expect people to do it for you :).

The shared interest aspect is interesting to me, because I have a friend who stopped engaging in the special interest we shared (music). I've found it incredibly frustrating because it was a great way to connect, and I found that connection to be unique and nurturing. The way music was just carelessly discarded by my friend is almost insulting to me, and I just can't understand how they could be so thoughtless about something that means so much to me.

This was great Jenny! Tons of great perspectives! 🩵

What a lovely video to start the day! There are some really interesting insights on friendship here, and wholly relatable. Well done, all. Thanks so much for such a great collab, Jenny! 🧡

What a great bunch of people❤ 🙋‍♂️

Thank you Jenny. I love all your videos but the collabs are also just great to see perspectives and commonalities.

What a wonderful video! Thank you Jenny and all of your lovely collaborators for their great contributions 🙏 I feel the topic of making and keeping friends is so important for our community, because it helps us feel less alone in this regard and less guilty about friendships. My problem is mainly maintaining friendships. I think it's because due to my masking, they're disappointed to find I'm not the person they first thought I was... 💕

I started viewing friendships like an equation that I was willing to go up to 50% to contribute to its maintenance but that was it. I did this bc most, if not all, of my relationships I was contributing 75%. So I started at 50% and worked my way down 🤣 I know match what others give (unless it’s a more valued relationship ie longer/deeper than I’m willing to ebb and flow with life’s ups and downs.) And honestly THAT is the type of friendships I have. With both allistics and autistics - the best relationships are honest with what they can provide (4 calls/year) and if that’s fine with you, great! I have a variety of friends with a variety of needs in their own lives too. A good friend can be someone you chat about ren fairs once a year, or someone you go for a walk with once a month. *When I learned I didn’t have to be all things to all people, I realized the same was true for those in my life. So I collect one of a kinds, building my world with the very best and quite a colorful cast of characters 🤣 I’ve always been a sucker for a good ensemble 🥰

Thank you for your video and to all the people who took part. I really relaxed to the last lady in the video and her comments were very good and helpful. Cheers Suzanne

II have struggled with friendships. I make friends but it is quite diffiicult to maintain friendships.

I know what it is like to be autistic. I just want you to know I love you.

If you wish to blame someone for me being here, look no further than Lauren the Spicy One. Great vid.

I found it, Jenny! I’m the one or a one who was looking for this video. 😊

Love your energy and vibe 🥰

I have a couple of friends and that's only because they're ok with just texting. I'm sooo much better at expressing myself through written word/text but being in person is extremely uncomfortable for me so for that reason, any bonds that I form don't make it very far.