I went on a hike today with my local university hiking society and as usual I felt invisible among my peers. Initiating conversation has always been difficult, but I tried and other than a few exchanges of sentences, it felt like nobody really cared to talk. They seemed friendly enough when we were talking, however everybody else happened to have perfectly long conversations around me. I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experiences, because I swear there is this invisible aura around me that unconsciously signals I am Autistic and it can be so frustrating at times.

Edit: It's refreshing (in a weird way) that so many others are in the same boat, it can often feel like I'm the only one who feels this way yet there are literally millions of other Autistic people who experience these same frustrations, many in this thread.