One very important distinction that I missed was that when a polytropic (or let's say NT) person enters the room, they perceive the room as a whole with the mood and everything BUT UNCONSCIOUSLY.
When I enter a room, I become aware of every detail CONSCIOUSLY.
Hence the inability to read and react to social cues.
There are just too many cues to CONSCIOUSLY interact with and I don't have the intuitive machinery for it.