Do you swing your arms back and forth while walking?

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People always tell me that I walk with my arms very stiff. I never used to notice it until it was pointed out to me.

Oddly , one arm swings , usually the right one , and the other doesn't . Weird .

Too prescriptive; this is certainly not always the case for autistic people. I was never threatened with being beaten as a small child, though I did suppress this behaviour later in life, only after I realised that it was noticeable as "abnormal" by other people. It is a very common sensory-seeking behaviour to find squeezing of the torso pleasurable, and can be useful for managing other sensory sensitivities, and often the arm position found most comfortable for people who exhibit stereotypical autistic hand-flapping at an age far too young to be aware of social censure. I still do it often when alone simply because it feels good and natural; no anxiety or fear is required.


Other people certainly might misinterpret it as "closed" body language indicative of disinterest or defensiveness, when in reality it is simply what the autistic person finds comfortable, as with any other postural quirk. Whether we adjust our behaviour or encourage others to accept it is a personal and situational choice, "should" is too strong a word, IMHO.

I think not in this case because you are judged by other people who don't know you just because of your behaviour. Being low rated because of your behaviour causes people to don't accept you as somebody of their own social state. It's part of the hierarchical thinking of people.

To learn about and carefully consider what consequences one may have to accept is certainly advisable, but it is still an individual choice whether such acceptance is desirable and/or worth the effort, and not for a third party to say that a particular concession is imperative (even assuming that one's autistic traits allow the prescribed behaviour). Cowering before another person's unreasonable or misinformed judgement may have negative consequences, too, and there may be situations where happiness/comfort are found contrary to and/or preferable to status.
[NB: No personal dislike, pedantry, or trolling intended; an interesting debate, one for a thread of its own, maybe?]

I appreciate the advice regardless and I already know I should try not to do it in situations where image is more important (job interviews, for example). But other times it's less simple, as I don't notice I'm doing it until I would already have been judged for it.
I can say for certain I was never beaten, and I'd be interested to know the source on the correlation.



Thanks for debating the other perspective! If we could 'like' comments I would have liked yours.
I appreciate your point about whether one should have to adjust their own natural behaviour intentionally purely for to control they're being perceived by (NT) others. I think in most situations I would rather do what's comfortable, even if it makes some people think I'm weird.
Definitely a discussion to be opened in another thread, I'd be interested to hear how often, and why, people do this and how easy/difficult they find it.