How does aspergers affect the way you look?

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There seem to be a number of minor (and not generally considered unattractive) facial differences common in autistic people, at least according to a Scientific American article. They correspond to a certain time in fetal development. And they aren't obvious unless you know what to look for.

There are also a number of identified genetic differences (including Down's syndrome actually) that have a higher-than-average rate of autistic people, and also have characteristic facial appearances of their own. (Some of which would seem obvious and some of which wouldn't.)

And then a lot of the appearance differences aren't structural, they're functional. Like the way we move, or don't move as the case may be.

I was just blogging about mostly the "functional" kind of difference of appearance today:

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=174

Those pictures are all me as a kid at a certain age, while overloaded.

(To see plenty of pictures of me as an adult, go to Getting the Truth Out. Or just look at the logo on my blog, which also has a photo of me from fairly recently.)

These posts also have somewhat to do with appearances, including one person's explanation of the "difference" in mine:

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=137
http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=135
http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=132

(Those are in reverse chronological order.)

So basically there are structural and functional differences that are possible (and not always all the same ones). I appear to have both.

I've often had people say things like, "Come on, love - cheer up/give us a smile!" when I'd actually been in quite a good mood (until their stupid comment).

Like some other people have said, I also walk very fast. I have to deliberately 'hold myself back' to walk slowly, and it's very difficult.

That's exactly what I get! People tell me to cheer up, and I only need to cheer up after they tell me to, and because thier comment is what annoyed me.

I also walk fast, and stiffly, because I try to talk on my toes, and put one foot in front of me at a time, and also trying to keep my shoulders down and my head up and wondering what to do with my hands. Very confusing.

I have also noticed that my head is a bit larger than average.

I also read somewhere that with some Aspies, the corners of one's mouth may be low in comparison with the center of their top lip. And the top of their ears might be folded over or something. Is this the case with many people?

no it isnt your talking about mules, horses and donkeys

http://www.autistics.cc/Autism/sciamtwo.html

Towards the bottom.

ok i se this with interest.
sorry for being facicious.

Thank you for posting the website, I had been looking for the article.

Also:

http://www.exploringautism.org/autism/evaluation.htm
http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/11/autisms.html

Well, people have said that i walk and run kinda funny, but i dont know about my face/body since i have not seen myself as an NT and for that reason i cannot compare how different i would look as an NT.

I find it really hard to talk about what makes us look different without sounding looney. I hope you'll forgive me for rambling a bit, but I find the words hard to find to describe something I have noticed about aspies.


I read somewhere that Dr. Aspergers said we look like angels. I can't find that quote anywhere now but I know I read it somewhere. It was either Dr. Asperger's, Lorna Wing or Tony Attwood who said we look like angels. I've thought about this comment for along time. GEEZ I wish I could find that quote again. Anyway, I have come up with some reasons why I think that particular autism expert made the comment that we look like angels. I think the detached quality of our facial expressions and body language combined with our ability to make superior cognitive connections might make us appear to be not only physically removed, but also somehow psychically removed from normal social conflicts. In other words, we give off the "appearance" of being transcendent of the normal conflicts that NTs experience in their everyday lives in part because of our reduced body language and facial expression, and when we add such intellectual abilities as superior honesty, the ability to make faster cognitive connections, and other psychic traits then we fit the stereotypical Western image of angels. Our aspie traits, both physical and psychological abilities combined, as well as the alleged "smaller chin" and resulting patrician facial structure does fit the Western artistic depictions of angels.

Last edited by anandamide on 04 Aug 2006, 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

im too skinny with a horse looking face! (thats me in my avatar)

It's impossible for me to see much of you on my screen. I can't make out your facial features or your headsize in relation to your body. Maybe I'm imagining things. Maybe I misread that quote about how we look like angels, or wrongly attributed it to some autism expert when in fact I really read it somewhere else. But I will say this. I am very sensitive to visual imagery. And what I perceive is that aspies seem to have a luminescent quality or something, god it's so hard to put into words, I perceive that we have qualities that are a result of our neurodiversity that make us appear to be physically and psychologically removed and therefore transcendent of normal society. That is what I have perceived. I am pretty good at interpreting cultural imagery and visual art, though not so good at talking about it unless I have the time to express myself more accurately. I wrote this post, and have risked sounding like a looney, in the hopes that someone else out there had noted this same phenomenon, that is, that autistic people look like "angels".

you cant see me because that day my picture was taken there was a solar eclipse!

That's kind of spooky..

i have horsey features as well.

In the description that I posted above I only made a brief comment on the fact that we are alleged to have the smaller chins that would result in patrician features common to Western depictions of angels. And, yes, it is probably true that many aspies do not have these patrician facial features. I can see that just by looking at some of the pics in the post a pic thread. But what about the rest of it? The detached body posture, the reduced facial expression, the extraordinary cognitive abilities that we cannot help but express through our facial expressions, body language, and quirks, those traits would also create an appearance of being physically and psychologically or intellectually removed and therefore transcendent of our surroundings. These are qualities of physical and psychic transendence that are often attributed to angels in folklore and media depictions. I'm sorry for repeating myself, and I won't do it again in this thread unless someone else seems interested in the subject, but I do think that, given these qualities, we resemble Western artistic or media depictions of angels.