Meltdown!

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Had to leave a Zoom meeting because I couldn't handle the topic and had to leave because I was melting down... My supervisor said I can skip some of the meetings, but the raptor people I'm making posters from refuse to give me email feedback, insisting I have to discuss it over Zoom... I'm getting fed up...

What set you off?

Use Zoom in your favor.

I understand why they won't use email. It sounds like more than one person is having input over those posters. There is no way they are going to bounce input emails around to everyone, then have it get back to you. That could burn up days, and Zoom gets everyone there and details hashed out in an hour.

I know you finished those posters quickly. I'm guessing they want tweaks and they want to point out the tweaks. You gave them the first version, and now they want changes. Welcome to dealing with clients and art.

Zoom works for you because there will be no misunderstandings with everyone. If they want a font change, this picture flipped and point sized changed. EVERYONE hears it. EVERYONE has the opportunity to open their mouths and go yay or nay. No one can come back and say they didn't know. As an Aspie, you can pin them down in exactly what is needed.

Worse case scenario, they hate everything about the posters. Who cares? They gave you the templates. You did a first version. If it's as quick as you say, you'll rework them fast.

Non profits are all about committees and everyone getting their opinions into the pot. That's the suck part. At least your supervisor said you don't have to sit through it all.

I don't see you getting out of a Zoom meeting for this particular request.

I get overwhelmed at meetings too sometimes.

I attend some meetings like this where people come in with no camera on - this can reduce a feeling of vulnerability.
Zoom also has a chat / text feature which allows you to make comments without having to wait for someone to finish talking and can give you more time to choose your words or edit what you have written before you "send". You can also use the chat to send text to JUST one person on the zoom call or to all. This makes it more like e-mail. Some zoom meetings you can even phone into so there is no camera at all for you - it is more like a conference call.

I have also been experimenting with using screen capture during zoom to take notes - a recent zoom call I took several screen-shots and pasted them into a Apple Pages word processor document. This helped me to capture the names and e-mail addresses of some people and also associate faces to names (which is something I REALLY have a hard time with).
Another trick I do at face-to-face meetings is to play boggle with words on a piece of paper - I write down one or two words from a slide or that someone says then play with the letters to make other words - this lowers my anxiety and makes me look "busy and attentive" at meetings there are always things I can easily recall and just CANNOT remember (like names and the correct spelling of some words). The boggle trick also keeps me from making spontaneous comments and puns which I may think are funny but the meeting leader may think are rude or disruptive. Playing spy always makes me feel safer at meetings - like trying to write down peoples names when other people mention them even if I don't know everyone at the meeting. Sometimes after a meeting I will ask my boss who someone was or if he has contact information for someone I want to talk to one-on-one after the meeting. This way I manage to get through all the anxiety of the meeting without coming unglued or making a fool of myself and later I can follow up with one person at a time - which is less trouble for my social skills to manage. I can get overloaded with more people.

For me it helps to think about how to "reduce the inputs" to a level where I can deal with information (faces, voices, text) and try to manage my output (think twice before speaking or emailing - reread what i write before sending - sometimes run it past my boss first before sending to a client or co-worker). If I try to manage my overwhelm and my impulsivity I do better with meetings.