Yeah... I am thinking, and I'm very familiar with your terms and tact. Thank you for the affirmation.
I believe there is good in every situation, sometimes you just have to look at things differently to see it.
My x wife got caught up in prostitution and meth. She's now bipolar. My sane daughter worried for years that her mom would die and we wouldn't know. Through the death of her sister, we were able to locate her and it was the first time I've seen her in almost 20 years and we were united as a family for the funeral. This was good and wounds started healing. However, the x was pushy and pushes our oldest to her limits.
I saw them all again last weekend, and my daughter noticed the way I dealt with her mother and is now in repentance.
But I don't have that luxurary with strangers that smirk or stereotype... So I just don't care what they think.... Why would I?
May I tell you something I used to do all the time when I would be out with either a group of clients or even just one charge? As you know, strangers almost always stare and gawk. But, it you are sensitive enough to choose the right one to approach, you can go over to them and ask for their assistance for just a few minutes. Most people won't just flatly refuse. You can invent whatever reason you want to use to say that you need to let the patient interact a little with a regular citizen (use that word!). Make sure you that they understand that you see them as the kind of person who understands the importance of such interactive exchange to someone uncomfortable in social settings, and assure them it will only be a minute or two.
Now, assuming you successfully sold this, what have you done? First of all, you have actually helped in your patient's development. Secondly, you have eased, and maybe eliminated, the stranger's fear. And third, you have reinforced the positive side of the person you enlisted.
This was very short, but you are smart enough to know how to put together an approach that will work..... and in so doing, you will have removed one more person who will ever stare again. You owe this to your charge (daughter, in your case)
Sure, you are going to encounter some resistance, and some downright refusal, but ya know what? A month from now, what you did will still have them thinking... AND they just might give it a try one day.