Is this why some people find us creepy?

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Agustin
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03 Sep 2015, 1:24 pm

Elensar wrote:
Because many of us express our emotions differently, we may cause other people to go into the Uncanny Valley. Hence why why some people treat us like crap, etc.


My thoughts exactly.

As an individual with Asperger's, we're a bit 'different' from Neurotypicals, but there's no need to treat us as if we're some sort of unusual weird creatures.



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03 Sep 2015, 2:29 pm

Uncanny valley. Second that.

There is something to be said about the usefulness of being creeped out. There's a lot of acceptance and non-judgmentalness and whatnot these days and sometimes that dulls our instincts. If someone seems to be creeped out by you, it's good to just tell them how you are different, what that means, and tell them it's not a big deal.

There used to be a guy that worked at a restaurant I liked. He looked completely normal but something about him bothered me. I had to make an effort not to move away from him when he was standing or sitting near me. He was polite and everything. I was just creeped out by him. It turned out that he was a convicted, violent sexual predator.

Once when I was a teenager I was walking in broad daylight near my house to my friend's house. A car passed me. I felt weird about it, so I quickly walked into the woods next to the road when the car was out of sight. The car turned around and came back, looking for me. Then it turned around again, slower, the people in it looking. I ran the rest of the way to my friend's house, darting into the woods whenever I heard a car.

You can pick up on things autistic people do even if they haven't disclosed, so if you know about autism, spectrum people don't seem creepy. When non-autistic people are creepy, there's likely to be a reason why.



trayder
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03 Sep 2015, 5:58 pm

If you consider that the further along the consciousness spectrum one is towards pure logic, a dispassionate facial structure is quite natural. Emotions lie at the subjective end...things like judgementalism, bigotry, denial, precociousness, groupthink....and all the subtle messages that go with emotionalism

In effect, we might as well be a different species and of course, it is hardly surprising the the majority will see us as aliens...as that is what we are. Having said that, we live on this planet and must thus strategise to get on with the natives so as we can live a full life amongst the majority.



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03 Sep 2015, 6:54 pm

So what you're all saying is people with ASDs look like a dangerous threat?

I don't think I do. I just look stupid. If I looked like something that might bite, or murder or terrorize in some other way, then why do I get strangers always invading my space, in other words, standing very close to me to the point where it creeps me out, and also people aren't afraid to put their kids near me even though I hate kids in general. So I think people look at me and think "oh who cares how that stupid young woman feels, let's just crowd around her with our rowdy kids." Unless I look like I have the patience of a saint, which I don't know how because I'm often frowning and rolling my eyes at people in public when they're annoying me, which are two clear signs of annoyance.


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trayder
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03 Sep 2015, 7:32 pm

Joe90 wrote:
So what you're all saying is people with ASDs look like a dangerous threat?

I don't think I do. I just look stupid. If I looked like something that might bite, or murder or terrorize in some other way, then why do I get strangers always invading my space, in other words, standing very close to me to the point where it creeps me out, and also people aren't afraid to put their kids near me even though I hate kids in general. So I think people look at me and think "oh who cares how that stupid young woman feels, let's just crowd around her with our rowdy kids." Unless I look like I have the patience of a saint, which I don't know how because I'm often frowning and rolling my eyes at people in public when they're annoying me, which are two clear signs of annoyance.


I dont know...I am only surmising....what goes on in the allistic mind is a mystery to me. But they tend to makes dramas out of silly situations and I guess I must affect them in some way. I mean, what does it matter that a person looks stupid.

Generally, if someone looks malevolently at me, I will avoid the situation...thats just a security thing. Otherwise I really cannot care about someones looks...its none of my business. If they talk sense, that is something I like.



BrainPower101
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03 Sep 2015, 8:44 pm

Ambiguity makes some sense, have you ever tried observing the eye's of an aspie when one is staring at you directly? Not that all are like this and most won't even look at people in the eyes for more than a few seconds, but a NT would freak out if I looked them in the eyes because I have weird looking eyes that make most people uncomfortable around me.

That's only one of my personal hypothesis..

There are many more consensus such as body language and facial expressions that might intimidate the average joe.



trayder
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03 Sep 2015, 9:05 pm

BrainPower101 wrote:
Ambiguity makes some sense, have you ever tried observing the eye's of an aspie when one is staring at you directly? Not that all are like this and most won't even look at people in the eyes for more than a few seconds, but a NT would freak out if I looked them in the eyes because I have weird looking eyes that make most people uncomfortable around me.

That's only one of my personal hypothesis..

There are many more consensus such as body language and facial expressions that might intimidate the average joe.


People have problems looking at me in the direction of my eyes but when I look at myself in the mirror, my eyes look alright so I cant make head or tail of whats going on. Same with when I speak....seems to get folks wired to the moon yet I speak quite coherently and non confrontationally. All very unfathomable



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03 Sep 2015, 11:23 pm

This video didn't scare me, something must be wrong with my brain. Lot of things I don't find creepy and by the time I realize something is creepy, it's too late.


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04 Sep 2015, 8:08 am

BrainPower101 wrote:
Ambiguity makes some sense, have you ever tried observing the eye's of an aspie when one is staring at you directly? Not that all are like this and most won't even look at people in the eyes for more than a few seconds, but a NT would freak out if I looked them in the eyes because I have weird looking eyes that make most people uncomfortable around me.

That's only one of my personal hypothesis..

There are many more consensus such as body language and facial expressions that might intimidate the average joe.


I have heard neurotypicals privately say that the way an autistic person's eyes look when staring directly into their eyes and sustaining eye contact is "inhuman." Autistic people commonly refer to themselves as aliens, which I think a neurotypical not knowing much about autism would agree with. Was it like an alien pretending to be human? I bet they would say yes. That would be an interesting thing to test.

I probably think about this too much to give an impartial answer, but I think the look in an autistic person's eyes when sustaining eye contact is a combination between too much intensity and blankness. You never get that from a neurotypical person, which is why it's scary. And as I've said many times before, neurotypicals don't stare into each other's eyes for more than a couple seconds unless we're doing something animalistic and weird, like trying to fight or mate. When an autistic person is looking into someone else's eyes, it's usually because they're forcing themselves to, so it's not natural. That's where the intensity comes from. You feel how uncomfortable they are without knowing why you're feeling that. The blankness is just from having a less complicated facial expression looking back at you. Not many tiny muscle movements.



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04 Sep 2015, 8:16 am

I think people find some Aspergian/autistic people "creepy" because they have such a "logical," rather than an "emotional, people-oriented" take on things.

They might think this "logical" orientation somehow equates to a certain "amorality," which frightens them.



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04 Sep 2015, 9:18 am

I thought we would be found creepy because of our lack of social skills.


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kraftiekortie
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04 Sep 2015, 9:28 am

We really don't have a LACK of social skills. There are times, though, when our social skills are not on a par with "neurotypical" people.



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04 Sep 2015, 11:31 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
We really don't have a LACK of social skills. There are times, though, when our social skills are not on a par with "neurotypical" people.


That seems like a distinction without a difference. Lack is unquantified. It doesn't necessarily mean total lack.

If a bus ride costs $2.50 and I have $2.45 in my pocket, I lack sufficient funds for the fare, but that doesn't mean I have no money at all.



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04 Sep 2015, 11:51 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
We really don't have a LACK of social skills. There are times, though, when our social skills are not on a par with "neurotypical" people.



When people say lack, they mean not enough. Like someone may say "I don't have any money" when they mean "I don't have enough" like what adamantium just said.


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kraftiekortie
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04 Sep 2015, 11:54 am

I think of "lack" in terms of absolutes.

You absolutely LACK the fare, though you don't LACK money.

To say that one LACKS social skills is an absolute to me.

It's awkward, to me, to say one lacks social skills slightly, though to say there is a slight lack in social skills is less awkward.

I think the linguistic distinction lies in the difference between "a lack", and "lack" minus an indefinite article.



kraftiekortie
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04 Sep 2015, 12:11 pm

I guessed I'm splitting hairs..but the distinction is important to me. I don't lack social skills, though there is a slight lack in my social skills.

I wouldn't really argue this point, though, if the person explained what he/she meant.