what look should I have on my face when just walking around?

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I think nts tend to be more interested in what's going on around them (other people, the environment, etc.) whereas autistic people tend to be more involved in their own thoughts. I naturally look at the ground to keep the sensory input to a minimum and think when I walk. I've walked into things before.
I try to keep aware by looking up and pretending that I'm a cylon, scanning like they do with their eye.

There are 2 very opposite things being said about base facial expression here, one that it is neutral, the other is that it is of stress. The general consensus is that it is actually neutral.

Personally, as someone with emotional difficulties who potentially fails at knowing and understanding my own emotional states, I could see that me thinking I would actually be presenting and feeling neutral, but in reality I would actually be under strain. However, I don't seem to have a problem of not understanding body language.

I don't have people tell me that my expressions are off. I think I notice extremely well when someone who I'm paying attention to's expression is not neutral. For instance, pictures of my grandparents show what I call a very deep perma-frown. It's all along the one side of my family, can see the family resemblance. There's a difference between it and someone who is not looking at people, head down, moving quickly, who happens to have a scowl on their face. The impression that person leaves to me is one of 'I am in pain and I desire to be alone'. Of course, these random people, I don't know what they look like when they are alone; I don't know if that expression is their default or not.

My aspie partner has complained that other people say he is always arguing or that his face always looks like he's angry, and I've experienced first-hand someone asking me (as the significant other) if everything was alright with him. I knew that everything was generally alright with him but I also knew that he was in a state of mild stress because he was focussing on a task that he had to get done. His focussed state (which a lot of people's is like) could be misinterpreted for anger.

One last thing to note, about my partner's tone of voice, he doesn't seem to notice when his voice changes. One of the things he complains about is that people say when he speaks it's always like he's arguing something. What he utterly fails at noticing though, is that during a single moment of him speaking, if he's speaking a few sentences, his tone of voice can change, and it is quite noticeable to me, but he has no impression of it. I have told him about this, and I will generally say (because it has already come up because I will be feeling uncomfortable with his tone of voice sometimes to which he will answer 'well people always tell me that, I can't help it'), "Did you notice that just now your tone of voice actually changed, that I noticed (for instance) 3 different emotions at different moments in time?" To which he's like 'Nope, I didn't perceive any of that.' And sometimes when he starts to talk about something that bothers him, he has occasionally gotten very worked up to the point of getting into tears, and throughout, his voice and mannerisms and everything else he does exactly like I would expect a NT to do who is getting worked up, but he seems to not be aware at just how upset he is actually getting until near a breaking point.


These are 2 very different things that can seemingly result in the same thing of people telling someone 'You look/are acting x' and it is not something you perceive you are being. It seems to me that there could be a lack of self-perception and also a lack of interacting with the world around you, or a combination of the 2.

I also think that a lot of this also has to do with fronts that people generally put on; if I am in public, only if I am really disturbed will I let my true emotions show in my actions and face. I also block out my emotions in general so that I can act appropriately in public. But again, I also seem to innately understand what is acceptable and not in terms of body language, even though I seem to naturally not want to ever do most of it.

People ask me this a lot too. But for me it's because I am a mouth breather and have a pouty lip so my mouth when closed always looks downturned rather than neutral or smiling.

I think I am probably blank more times than not, otherwise I'll probably look like I am mean mugging or something. I try to make an effort to smile but I think it probably looks weird, I dunno.

In college, I was constantly told I looked like I was about to kill someone. Sometimes people would stop me in a store to ask why I'm so angry, when in fact I was just thinking and kinda happy even. I can't force myself to make certain expressions, I certainly can't make myself smile, it has to happen naturally without me thinking about it.

Since my grandparents have died, I was given the old family photos, and I've noticed a lot of the women on my mom's side have the same expression I do in my pictures, in each generation. We know both my grandpas fit the criteria for being on the spectrum, so it's not surprising the expression would be a familial thing.

I used to get this a lot in high school and junior high, but not in adulthood. I think it might be because public school throws everyone of all personality traits together indiscriminantly, whereas adults get to have at least a little influence in the company they keep. Where I live (Arizona, Phoenix area), people tend to be fairly introverted and will usually avoid looking at passing strangers, but back when I was in school, I did encounter the occassional evangelistic extrovert. I think I just said something about how I didn't care whether they approved of my facial expression.

I can hardly even imagine an adult suddenly critiquing a stranger's facial expression, and the people who would do so around here are probably used to being treated like some kind of weirdo.

I get that too. When sitting with a group of people I always try to smile a lot especially since I talk little to nothing in a group usually so if I don't even smile everyone thinks I hate them and that I hate being there which is totally understandable, I think that too if someone i'm with looks grumpy all the time.
When walking around I pay no attention to my facial expression though, i'm focused on where i'm going not which mood i'm portraying with my face.

I've noticed that most NTs show way more expression all the time while us autists tend to look very grumpy/bored even annoyed all the time. There is nothing that can be done about that other than being mindful about it and just try to show more expression I guess.

The stereotyped Asperger look is that of the flat affect. I don't fit that stereotype at all. When I'm relaxed and happy, people tell me I have a nice smile. If I'm sad or worried (I seldom get angry, unless I see an innocent person or animal getting hurt, then I'm fuming), it shows on my face.

I sometimes look sad, because I've had people say "cheer up!" to me, which is really annoying. I don't know why people want you to be smiling all the time, unless you are talking to them. But when I'm sitting or standing around minding my own business and lost in my thoughts, I get really annoyed when people tell me to cheer up. Usually a sad face is a relaxed face with me.

But if I do show emotion in my face when out in public, people stare at me weird. But I don't want to be smiling all the time if I am feeling sad or stressed. One time I saw a notice at the bus stop saying about changes to one of the bus services, and while I was reading it some stranger said, "cheer up!" to me, and I felt like punching her, because she didn't know how I might be feeling when reading the notice and she didn't know how a bus service change could affect me if I had to rely on that particular bus to get to work or something, and she didn't know what else is going on in my head, so she had no right to jump in and get offended by my face. Anyway, if she was really concerned she could have just asked if I was OK. Asking if you're OK is more friendly and less sarcastic than "cheer up!" I would have just responded with, "yes, thank you". But being told to cheer up just irks me.