Autism-lack of eye contact

Post Reply New Topic

I have been like researching about autism. Some people think that lack of eye contact is a sign of autism, some of them do not. I myself has trouble with eye contact when I talk to someone or getting my picture taken from my phone or the camera ( i get side profiles not face to face recently.) Do you think that lack of eye contact is a symptom of autism? I'm kinda discombobulated between the ones that agree and the ones that disagree.

It is a symptom of autism and also a sign of shyness.
In the wild, predators often will make eye contact with their prey, causing the prey to be paralyzed with fear and easier to catch.
Maybe there is a good reason for eye contact to illicit a fight or flight response. Maybe humans in general have just overcome their fear of eye contact for the sake of better communication. Also, some cultures value eye contact more than others.

@Marybird: Ah now I see.

@Snowyee:

Whenever I have direct eye contact, I feel uncomfortable.

Shyness is a very nonspecific descriptor. It's often used to refer to social anxiety.

The autistic research participants who came to our lab all make lots of eye contact with me, other researchers, and anyone they bring along, like mother or aide.

I think they are doing it on purpose, as they are not showing that natural eye contact behavior of NTs in the eggsperiment.

Most other autistic people I know also make lots of eye contact, and eggsperiments have even measured that they spend more time looking at the face in naturalistic interactions than NT subjects, probably because they are doing it on purpose.

Some autistic people are hypersensitive to eye contact with the very uncomfortable feelings and fear responses, but other autistic people are not.

I know. Its the results after the shot that I am concerned about. Whenever I look at myself or others in pictures and they are like staring at "Me" I feel uncomfortable. Thats why I get side profile pictures recently.