We have to learn social skills and that takes opportunity/experience in situations where we can practice and get feedback that our interaction is not working in "this" situation. It is helpful if one has high self-esteem and is kind/has knowledge of how to deflect/respond to the poorly asked questions/curiosity (there's nothing wrong with curiosity!!! Not asking "how much do you make?" is a social convention, not a "bad" thing to do) in such a way the other person realizes you do not want to talk about that subject but does not feel badly for having brought it up. Eventually we get various responses when we ask a question or make a comment others generally do not like (some done well, some "ugly"/thoughtless/hurtful) so we don't ask that question/make comments "like" that anymore.

With someone I know to be developmentally handicapped, I would use the opportunity of being asked something like how much I make an hour to help them understand it is not a question many like to be asked and many will not be kind when responding. I would answer the question truthfully (I would have no problem with that particular person knowing how much I make an hour -- I would assume they were curious and not someone with an ulterior motive, not someone who is going to go to the boss with, "Perna makes $2/hour more than I do and I think I should make that much!" or something :-)

With someone commenting, "I'll bet you are really ashamed of that!" to me, about my son who is gay, I would reply, "Not at all, I'm quite proud of him! Why do you feel I should be ashamed?" and start a dialog that might help the person rethink their ideas of gay persons. If the comment is just made in my presence though, I would not say anything, it is not being made to me and is not my problem/responsibility/conversation (whether or not I have a gay son or not too). I would merely file away in my head that that person has an attitude toward gays that is not the same as mine and would make sure I do not get in a conversation/further conversations with him about that subject, just as I would not discuss my beliefs about God with an atheist (would not conversationally -- if it were a political thing and the other person was trying to force their beliefs/laws on me I would respond, personally, to the "threat" to my personal well-being).