Why do people on the spectrum look young for their age?

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I think the demeanor, many of the gestures and expressions give off a youngish vibe.

Being Elves....

I was thinking about the Neaderthal DNA? I read somewhere that they were not fully mature until they were 30 years old.

I remember telling my neighbour that it was the last day of my 30's and he misunderstood thinking I was about to celebrate turning 30. The look on his face when I told him that I was in fact turning 40 was comedy gold.

This isn't the first time people have made this mistake, it actually happens all the time that people are genuinely surprised to discover my true age. I'm in two minds about this apparent age discrepancy; on the one hand I'm pleased to be well preserved and relatively youthful but on the other I've never been entirely comfortable amongst my own age group and have always been patronised by others due to their incorrect assumptions.

I'm not on the spectrum and I look younger than I should. There's lots of stress in my life and my face is numb only in scary social situations (after hermit (AvPD) periods almost every situation is bit scary). Looking younger runs in my family and all my siblings also looks younger. Useful once you got older I guess. My father is 50 and could pass as 35 year old. This applicable also from my mother side. It feels kind of scary as well when you think about. It is good too look bit younger but not by too much.

Last edited by nouse on 05 Mar 2012, 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Or possibly vulcans

I'm actually a little worried about getting older because of it and I've never really cared that much about my looks before. Most people think I'm around 30, not around 40, even though I'm completely stressed out and feel I should really look about 60. I often have weird conversations with people who obviously think they're talking to someone much younger, like young grandparents in the school playground, who don't realise I'm closer to their age than that of their children. I have a few greys and wrinkles, so I think it has more to do with my general appearance, clothing, demeanour and the way I speak than the physical signs of ageing. So, when my face starts to age noticeably, I worry that people will still assume I'm younger, but think that I look old for my age.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that.

I have no clue, but I have noticed it as well... I am 38 in 5 days, and most people guess 25-29

I did not have my son until I was 40. I would converse with the younger grandparents on the playground because they are closer to my age. (I found the very young parents, umm, boring) They assumed I was 10-15 years younger than my age. It would make for some moments. Eventually I tried to slip into the conversation that I had my son very late, at the last minute. It is not really annoying, but when someone a couple years older gives advice about what they would do "if they were still my age".... it's a little surreal.

I'm not convinced by this whole 'less face movement so less wrinkles' principle.

I agree it's there. I look younger than my peers and friends, and so do my Aspie friends. With me, I think it's something to do with the clothes I wear (I can tell they make me look young) and I do seem to give off a 'vibe' of innocence/childlike-ness!

But I have an Autism Alert card, and wave that in a cinema and I can get into 15s and 18s, so I think NTs notice it too, or maybe they're intimidated? I don't know...

I am 29 years young and I still get carded for everything I do including simply buying lottery tickets and seeing a rated "R" movie. Of course when I buy a drink in a restaurant they card me as well. That is unless I am going to my favorite restaurant where they already know my age. Every person I meet when I tell my age, they are beyond shocked. In fact there are times where they don't believe me. I look like a teenager. My brother looks young for his age as well and he is 26. We are going to have him tested for autism. My dad has Asperger's Syndrome. My mom is normal with a little ADD. I haven't aged for years. The thing is though I feel old in some ways such as hot flashes already and pain all the time but feel young at other times. I do have a lot of stress so I don't know if that always makes you look older because it hasn't aged me a bit.

i look younger than i am. i suppose it is because of a number of factors.
my friend/associate (more associate than friend) is angry that i have not seemed to age while he has aged considerably.

one factor i think is that my mind seems not to be connected to my face. i am almost always expressionless.

i do not smile because my face is not affected by what i feel. i do not laugh generally.

the only times i laugh are when it is absolutely taboo to do so, and no one ever shares my mirth on those occasions which makes me laugh even more, so i exit the situation and eventually calm down, but those times are very rare (maybe once per year).

even if i understand a joke, it does not make me laugh because i see jokes as like puzzles and when i "get it", i simply feel like i have recognized the solution to the "puzzle". i have never laughed at any joke in my life.

when people laugh as they are recounting something or simply making general conversation, my face remains unmoved. i am not infected by their inclination to smile or laugh.

i dislike direct sunlight in the warmer parts of the year extremely, and i will always seek shade urgently if i am in direct sunlight in summer or late spring or early autumn. i can tolerate if for a small while in the cooler parts of the year, but eventually i feel irritated by it even then.

i have a very low metabolic rate. i do not eat much, and i always remain at the same weight (84kg (184.8 lbs)). my hair grows very slowly and my fingernails also grow very slowly. my hair is still young looking i think in part because i have grown less hair than most people do. most people's hair grow about 15 cm (6 inches) per year, but mine grows only half that fast. i get my hair cut once every year where most people get theirs cut every 4 months or so (i think) unless they are finicky about maintaining a certain look. that means the they have extruded double the amount of hair in their time on earth as i have, and it seems to get more coarse and older looking the more they extrude. my hair still is soft and my associates hair is wiry and coarse. i do not have any grey hairs where he has many. i shave only once per fortnight because i have very light facial hair that grows very slowly, and no one notices i have not shaved even after a fortnight (i do).


i am very economical in my energy expenditure. some people may say i am lazy, but i do not agree because i do get everything done that i need to do. i automate many things so i do not have to labor to do them.

an example is putting the garbage out. i built a chute from a convenient place in the kitchen to both garbage bins to save me the effort of bagging up the garbage and walking downstairs with it. i have a dishwasher which saves me the effort of manually washing the dishes.

i know it sounds as if i am lazy. i do walk in bushland for fun and i like to sit in shady spots when i get to a waterfall that i like to visit. i am not immobile. i walk in a way that is very easy for me. my bones are strong enough because i do not lay in bed all day doing nothing, but i always think of how to expend the least amount of effort in any activity i engage in.

i think that a major cause of wrinkles in people is how they sleep on their pillow. i always fashion my pillow so my face is not contorted or squished into it. i see many people who are sleeping, and their faces are pushed out of shape by the way they lay on their pillow.
i have a sensory issue with my face being squeezed into a shape that is not natural, and when i lay down, i jab hollows into the pillow so my cheeks will fit into them with no resistance. i can not relax while my face is contorted, but many people seem to be unconscious of their faces being maligned by the way they lay on their pillow.

anyway, my fiend is quite touchy about how i look so much younger than him, and i thought of a way to describe to him why i look younger. he has jogged for many years around the block and he is always stressed out about many things. he is starting to get arthritis. he eats copious amounts of food (3 meals per day and dinner for him is usually a whole chicken with many vegetables). he is a health freak and he has taxed his body hard over the years. he is almost bald and i look like "little lord fauntleroy" (in his opinion).

my way of describing to him why this may be the case is to think of 2 identical cars that were manufactured in 1972, and one has been hammered hard and driven 300,000 miles, and the other was rarely taken out of the garage and has only 60,000 miles on the odometer, and was driven carefully.

my suspension and framework and engine are almost in new condition while his old chassis is rickety and falling apart because it was used so often. his engine is coughing smoke because he has poured so much gasoline into it over the years that his valves and pistons are clogged with residue.

it is ironic that my sedentary lifestyle which he condemned me for when we were young proved to be beneficial to me as we grew older.

i will outlive him and i did nothing but relax while he worked his bones to powder to achieve fitness.

maybe i will be challenged about what i posted because i guess it is not good advice. it is just my situation.

Wow, I never realised this was part of it.

My face looks like I am 14-16. When I speak people ask if I am 30 or so. If it wasn't for the fact that I have obvious "female curves", then I'm sure people would assume that I am 16 due to the face and the fact that I'm slender. Not wearing make up probably makes it worse.

My father is 43 but looks 30 still, so I think it's going to get worse and not better with the genetic factor.

I'm 20 and people are ALWAYS shocked they assume i'm 15/16.

Yeah... You know... it makes absolute sense now. I always thought they literally look younger, but... they only seem younger.

Because I don't think you will pay attention to notions of "child" and "adult" the same way that NTs do.

I never knew of this trait, but I will be 40 this year and I look in my 20's. Hmmm. Very interesting.

I do not like direct sunlight, I have sensitive eyes and it triggers migraines. Avoiding the sun preserves youthful skin. Maintaining low eating and stable weight is also easier on the body. These are not theories, these are facts of aging science.