How does it feel to make eye contact

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Gross. But I can look at dead people and splattered animals too without minding too much, so though eye-contact is worse, I can do it. It doesn't hurt and I don't feel like looking away.

I needed to before to talk. I'd stutter and forget what to say or do when looking into eyes. So I took time to study eyes and figured out it's that I felt confused and very irritated, because of that feeling of sudden disgust.

I start to remember to hold eye-contact usually. I got immensely awesome at it.

I went from no eye-contact in the past to a lot of it in a few months. Hopefully not too much.

Eye contact makes me feel horrible. The best analogy I can give is that it feels like little needles are poking me all over my chest, neck, shoulders - they're scaping at me, too.

I have tried and tried to master it. But even with people I truly trust - like boyfriends - it is just ... horrible.

Eye contact has always been excruciating to me. For some inexplicable reason it creates such anxiety and panic attack like symptoms. I also feel vulnerable and oddly intimate which seems so strange, bcause it can occur with people I know or sometimes with strangers.

Now here is something odd I've noticed. I can speak to strangers and hold short eye contact on occasion easier then people I'm aquainted with. And yet it seems there are some people in my life I feel comfortable around and I don't feel as ill at ease with them as I do other friends and aquaintances.

I have all but given up in frustration especially with my Aunt when she bluntly ask me if there was something wrong with my eyes. And I have tried so many of the tricks mentioned here, but can't seem to appear comfortable and natural

I have difficulty filtering out background noises, so when there are background noises and someone is talking to me, I watch their mouth and lip read a bit to help me understand what they're saying. When I can hear the person better I tend to not watch their face at all though, but I do try to remind myself to make at least a quick eye contact.

For me it's ok to make eye contact with some people, mostly people I know. I feel really uncomfortable making eye contact with strangers or people who I strongly dislike. Some people say that the eyes are the window to the soul. I guess I just don't want strangers peeking in through my windows and taking advantage of what they see. Eye contact also distracts me. I end up wondering what those facial expressions mean or what the person's true intentions and attitude are and I lose track of what they're saying or can't concentrate on what to say myself.

Eye contact is just really uncomfortable and sometimes distressing for me.

My main eye contact issue is that I find it very hard to really listen to someone if I'm looking at them. Subjectively, it's like the sight of the person's face interferes with the images I'm seeing from what they say.

It probably is not coincidence that I like radio, but rarely watch TV. (There's a saying that radio has better pictures).

This has then been a source of conflict, because many people think that you are only listening to them if you are looking at them...

It depends a bit where you are, of course - different cultural rules...

Oh yeah, I have to keep reminding people that I listen with my ears, not my eyes. They assume if I don't look at them I can't possibly hear them. Idiots - all they know is to believe illogical things and give me hell for my behavior, which hurts no one.

Another problem I have with eye contact is that (like others have mentioned) I can't listen when I'm tyring to look someone in the eye. Looking at someone's face or eyes when listening or talking is very distracting. Also for me I seem to have to focus mostly on using one sense at a time, obviously I can't shut all my other senses off but I do need to focus as much as I can on one sense at a time otherwise I will become overwhelmed. So when I need to listen for someone I need to focus on hearing, not seeing. When people ask me to look them in the eye when they are talking to me they do not realise that it's actually going to make me hear less.

After I became aware i had asperger syndrome,i realised i was never looking into the person with whom i was having conversation but was focussing on the mouth.I now try to look directly into the eyes.I find it very uncomfortable,tiring and unnatural.i sometimes even loathe that person just because i have to look him into the eye.sometimes i get confused which eye to look at,the left one or the right one as i am not able to focus on both the eyes.i think life was easier when i was not making eye contact and was not conscious about it though some people thought i was eccentric or retarted or disinterested or impolite or having superiority complex and i never had a clue about it until i knew i had AS.

I only use eye contact at different times just to see how they are reacting, It alows me to get a good idea of what they are thinking but personaly there are other thing that I watch to get an idea aswell. Also I will just focus on hearing or like to have an idea of what else is hapening, there is too much to focus on others eyes.

I don't really like it, it's kind of an all-consuming distraction. I tend to look straight at/past one eye (whichever is closest) and find things to gesture at and look away naturally as I talk, giving me an illusion of being sincerely engaged and not worrying at all. Locking eyes full-on and telling someone something tends to yield an overall positive response, though, so it can be handy when I'm trying to appear assertive/confident.

My folks had brought up eye contact in junior high, so I was conscious of and working on it long before I was aware of AS.

it certainly isnt inviting and can be painful

It feels awkward, and very wrong. I never know how long i'm supposed to keep it up, so i always end up making eye contact, looking away, making eye contact, looking away. Then i just end up looking really shifty =/
So sunglasses are the answer, especially in the summer.

wen u learn its second nature

But it kind of feels like you are leaving yourself exposed, it feels too intamet.

For me, feels real tense. My face and body just feel uncomfortable. I can force myself to calm down sometimes, like the last time a cop pulled me over... Certain people I'm ok with. My bosses, my dad, and most strangers are the most difficult... To sort of avoid this, I kind of peak over my glasses, having my eyes in that position makes it easier for me, sort of eye contact, but not really.

Someone mentioned people they know being somewhat difficult, and I find this to be true as well, friends are difficult for me, and I can't explain it. Seems sort of counterintuitive, but I've experienced this. When I'm on the bus, I meet people, and have actually gotten to know some of the regulars, which is funny in a way. Some of these guys I have the easiest conversations with, and NO problems with eye contact. Maybe I'll see a person once in a month, or twice in a day, but it just seems easier for some reason... Most people I avoid contact with, but there are a few people that seem to be easy for me to get along with. Wierd.