I'm good friends with a lovely lady at church. I'll call her Ann. She is kind and friendly. However, she has no awareness of social cues and as a result has offended a lot of people. She asks personal questions several times such as 'how much do you earn after tax?' 'why did it take you so long to find a job?' until the other person tells her she is rude and to mind her own business. Several people have called her out on it and this lady has said she feels like a pariah. I have explained to her that some of the things she says may make people uncomfortable. She admits that she doesn't read subtle social cues. She also repeats herself several times. My husband helped her with something at church and she thanked him. He replied no worries. She then chased him down many more times to thank him. He said he felt uncomfortabl
Ann also has the same problem with her colleagues who have asked her if she has autism. If I don't respond to her message within an hour, she bombards me with more asking if I'm mad at her.
2 days ago at church, whilst I was busy sorting out something for a member's baptism, Ann came up to me and asked for a hug. I gave her one and she she said 'I want a squeeze hug. Pls squeeze me. Come one, squeeze'. It was in the middle of the church hall so I told her 'not now, I'm busy'. She then started following me around and asking if I was mad at her and she only wanted a 'squeeze hug'. I was uncomfortable and other friends also told me afterwards it was strange.
The thing is she gets very upset when people pull her up on it. She says that she knows she is 'quirky' but why can't people adapt to her behaviour. She says all her life others have not accepted her 'quirkiness'.
I am aware that I'm her 'best friend'. She often tells me that. How do I support her?