Do people on the spectrum have a distinctive appearance?

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I read in one of the many books my mother took out when I was diagnosed that we tend to have a "delicate" or "childlike" appearance. This stuck with me because people have always, even when I was a kid, tended to take me for younger than I am. Even now, I am in my early thirties and get carded in every instance that people get carded. A fellow Aspie I knew at my work was only a couple of years younger than me, but I kept thinking of him as being very young, like 19-22. Does anyone think there's truth to this? Can you tell somebody's autistic just by looking?

I know I tend to look younger than I am, not so sure that is really a 'distinctive appearance' I am sure plenty of people without autism look younger than they are as well. So based on that no I don't think you can tell if someone is on the spectrum just by looking....as looking younger doesn't always=autism.

Yes, we are the people that look like we don't care what you have to say lol. But seriously, I've wondered this myself. I am around a lot of autistics, enough to say I think so, but who knows.

Distinctive appearance, no. (At least still undiscovered, so certainly not "distinctive")

Younger, yes. I have read that as well and it seems believable. I look younger than my real age, I'm told. I believe this can be caused when a person is less expressive with their facial muscles. Facial skin won't show as much wear or wrinkles, etc.

The "overly youthful" facial appearance tends to be fairly common. But that's about it. I would add 'strange clothing choices' as a distinction, but that's just me. NTs almost always go with what is fashionable, and we have a tendency to wear comfy, and even odd clothing.

Along with those mentioned there also seems to be a distinctive line under the eyes, normally because insomnia is quite common. Not specifically to autistics, I know, but quite common

I don't think we have a distinctive appearance, but we a lot of the time have pretty distinct body language, I think.
Though I still have people asking me sometimes what grade I'm in, even though I'm 25.

Well, I do look more like 11 than 13.
But for me the answer was "yes" because I have been around so many ASD kids my life, it's easy for me to spot one. Like a new comer to one of the forums I'm on has a selfie avatar, and when I saw it I thought to myself "I'll bet he's on the spectrum" and sure enough he mentioned that he was. It did not have anything to do with him looking younger or any other type a feature along those lines - I simply could just tell.

I don't think they have distinctive facial features. Most of them do seem to have a distinctive facial expression that I can identify.

I voted yes but I am not really sure.

I do agree we do tend to look younger then we are.

while I am skeptical of studies that detail specific facial features that are unique to people with autism, I do believe that there is a distinct facial expression when one is not intentionally giving effort to do otherwise...

I think there might be, although I'm not sure. There have been a few times when, on my first days of a class, in a room full of students, I've chosen seats that are right next to someone who I later find out also has AS. It doesn't happen all the time but enough that I can't bring myself to write it off as coincidence. It might be that I am sensing some visual cue that subconsciously lets me know they have it.

I've never seen a bunch of spectrum people all gathered in one place, so I wouldn't know if there's a "look".

For whatever it's worth though, I have gracile features. I've been told many times I look young for my age.

The same holds true for my AS friend from HS.

I'm usually mistaken for reasonably younger than my age. Sometimes I think it has to do with childlike mannerisms more so than actual features.

There's no look. Granted, some of us might be less inclined to give a F about fashion and end up dressing 'funny' (for example, unless it's a formal occasion I dress like a cross between a teenage skateboarder and my Dad), but I don't think I could ever 'figure out' an autistic person just by looking at a snapshot of them.

Speech and body language might be a better indicator, but not entirely reliable.

I know people on the spectrum seem to look younger, but that does not specifically scream out Autism or Asperger's. There's a (NT) guy at work who everyone thought was in his 20s but he's actually in his 40s.

I hate it when people say to me ''you're 23? You look about 21''. I mean, what the hell is the difference? How's a 23-year-old meant to look that's so different from a 21-year-old? Also I don't think people look a specific age. You don't go along the street and go ''oh she's 42, he's 28, she's 70 but looks like she's going to be 71 next week, he's 58...'' and all the ages are correct. People look more an age-range, not a particular age. I say I want to look 23 because that is my current age, but really I just want to look in my early 20s, rather than in my teens. I don't want to look like a teenager, I want to look like a young woman.