Has anyone ever gotten the advice to "just imagine you're on camera"? As an adult Aspie, I got this advice twice during my life, most recently 2 years ago; that time it was unsolicited advice, the time before it was solicited i.e. I was asking somebody for advice on how I could avoid projecting the wrong non-verbal signals, including posture etc to people. This one colleague in the workplace was apparently put off about how I would walk in with my head partially tilted down with a glazed look and greet people with a monotone voice, without me realizing it; the fact is I was just tired and didn't sleep well, when I do sleep better I find that I'm able to be more perky and "natural" with others upon initial entry to the office.
Now, I don't know about you, but the thought of always imagining I'm on camera is just going to make me feel paranoid - not to mention that it is not an ideal solution simply because it doesn't address the root cause, i.e. people with Aspergers simply don't intuitively realize that they have an awkward manner or flat or incongruent non-verbal, even with all the communications therapy sessions, physical conditioning etc that I've been through, people occasionally notice "something's off". I mean, it's not like somebody with a stutter who would be intuitively aware of their speech impediment whenever it manifested, so maybe you could tell them to always imagine they're being recorded. If that makes any sense.
So, at least for me, imagining I'm always on camera doesn't work and I'm guessing it doesn't work well for other Aspies - basically, you would have to review the camera recording with an NT who would point out where your nonverbal and motor coordination were "off".
22 Apr 2013, 9:01 am
