Thank you for sharing this, Romaine.
Our experiences are so different, and we should acknowledge it and cherish it, and we need to respect all people and accommodate all people.
My experience is related and opposite at the same time. I sometimes tell people that Wikimania is my social life. It's an exaggeration; it's Wikimania and other Wikimedia-related events: hackathons, workshops, local meetups. But that's really about it. The Wikimedia community is my social life. Events other than Wikimedia events —weddings, holidays, parties, you name it— can easily cause me to feel out of place and to experience feelings described in this thread.
Wikimania is where I feel completely at home. But if it's not a place where others can feel at home, it's a problem.
I remember one Wikimedia event that had an "introversion room". I remember how some people cheered when the event organizer mentioned it in her welcome speech. We need more of that: not only "introversion rooms" (even though they are welcome), but anything that makes people feel welcome.
We need more of this consideration and inclusion not just because it's the right and decent human thing to do. We need it because it's our expressed goal to include every single human being. Who if not us?