About looking younger

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It is often said that Asdies look young.

But when I Google I only find some people that agree or disagree based on what they think about themselves.

Anybody has something more based on observation of several individuals?

What is the mechanism? Just emotions leaving less traces? ("Neurological Botox"?).

How much younger? What share of the asd population?

Younger in what way.

How does it develop with age?

(For self-observations, please use poll)

Once when I was 14, someone asked me if I was 30 something (and the mother of my 13 year old friend). That really made me upset. And ever since then I thought I looked old and ugly. When I was in grade 11 or so, I was wearing a school jacket, and someone mentioned to an acquaintance that I was a little old to still be wearing a high school jacket. Oh, and then there was the time I was 12 (same height as I am now), and I was trick-or-treating--my Dad was even taking me around--and this lady took one look at me and said "oh my goodness--this is supposed to be for the children!" then she practically threw a sucker at me (giving a big handful of candy to the other kids). I honestly did not see it before, but since people keep pointing it out, I must be really old looking. I hate the way I look!

I look older for my age. In the last class photo I had (when I was 16) I looked much older than the rest of the class.

I definitely have people tell me I look and have the physical mannerisms of someone younger than I am.

My mom has met a lot of people who are on the autistic spectrum at her job (both ones she suspects and ones who have told her), and she says that they all look young and the only way she can guess their ages is whether or not they have gray hairs.

As for personal experience, I have had some people tell me I look my age, but about 90% of the time, people think I still look like a teenager and ask me what grade I'm in. Or they'll ask my age in a tone of voice that implies they have no idea, like "How old are you?" In both cases, when I tell them my biological age, their reaction is:

I am 24 and people tell me that I look 18. My brother is 6 years younger and they can't tell which one of us is older.

I'm 26 this past spring I was mistaken for a teen (over the phone) and my newest doctor was surprised by my age when I saw her the other day. 'You look so young' were her exact words.

I am 47 and I was just asked to show proof of age last night!

I look like I'm 14 or 15. It's not until I talk that people realize I'm older, because I have an extremely deep voice.

My bf and myself have been told that we look about four or five years younger than we are. There are people who ask my Mum 'how is LostAlien doing in secondary school?' when I leave the room (and they can't see me). I'm 28. I chose the second option though.

This can be deceiving too though. I have some greys, but am only 27.

I'd choose the 2nd option for myself.

A lot of people think I am a lot younger than I am because I'm not even 5 feet tall, but they say I act older than I really am and that they can usually tell I'm not a teenager once they get up close and look at my face instead of my body. I hope that doesn't mean I have an "old-looking" face!

That wouldn't apply to me- my facial expressions are pretty noticeable. When I was a kid, one of my grandmother's neighbors actually kept saying I should be an actress because of how disgusted I looked when I talked about math class (and later it turned out that I have a math learning disability.) And unfortunately I am one of those people whose emotions are blatantly obvious, especially if someone I care about says something rude or hurtful I tend to flash "microexpressions" and I can't go back to a neutral expression fast enough for them not to notice.

Same here. Only my brother is five years younger. People are always commenting they thought he was older. When talking about school they usually assume that i'm in highschool when i've actually graduated from college.

I voted 'Yes'.

When I turned twenty-one, my brother was all like 'Wow, twenty-one? You look about fifteen.' Thanks a lot, bro

I have to have my passport with me if I have a hope of getting a drink in the pub - and even if I'm not the one buying, the server will still look at me and ask, 'She is over eighteen, right?' God, that was an embarrassing night. I was with a group my own age, and they still singled me out!

I'm 24 but often mistaken'd for a 17-21 year old. I've kept this look since 22 too so maybe I'll look 22-24 between 25 and 30.

it helps to stay out of the sun and not smoke but I do both so I'll work on that to keep my youth

That's what I have done. I live in Arizona too.