Do others not FEEL eye contact?

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I read comments by autistics sometimes (here and elsewhere) that say they "fake" eye contact by looking at a person's eyebrows, nose, etc and that others don't seem to notice they're not actually making eye contact, because they're looking in the right general area.
I don't see how this is possible to get away with. Would not the other person KNOW you aren't making eye contact, because they could FEEL you aren't?
I never make eye contact. Hard line. But If I ever do make eye contact accidentally, I get INSTANT squick, like looking at the sun. It's a visceral instinctual feeling of NO and I have to look away and feel freaked out by it for ages afterwards, and will be careful to not even look AT other people at all, let alone their heads, in case it happens again accidentally.
Don't other people feel that contact, when eye-to-eye happens? Or don't they feel anything at all, and that's why a canny autistic can "fake" this contact by staring at their eyebrows?
Not feeling that instant NO seems incredibly alien to me.

They do, but the feeling is of recognition, not an alien presence.

I am undiagnosed.

Personally, I tend to look "in the general direction" of the eyes (alternating between the point between the eyebrows and the nose) some of the time, around the space in which I am talking to the person some of the time, and actually into the person's eyes very occasionally for very short amounts of time, usually when they are saying something about which I think they require some special acknowledgment that they're being listened to. I found eye contact impossible as a child and adolescent, but I can do it now, though it depends on the person whose eyes they are as well. In very small doses, I find it pointless (for myself, not for a conversational partner) at best and uncomfortable at worst.

I don't know if they notice I do not look into their actual eyes, to be honest. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. I haven't been "called out" on it since I was a teenager, maybe because what I do now blends in, or maybe just because adults don't call other adults out on that kind of thing? I do think people who like eye contact prefer it when people who don't look in the general direction of their eyes than with their face turned all the way away from theirs, etc.

I need to look at people's lips when they speak and oddly, people seem really flattered by this.

I've even had quite a few people think I'm signalling romantic interest.
Yikes.

The idea of people not feeling eye contact is perplexing to me, too - but so is the idea of people not being able to feel other people's electromagnetic fields, which apparently most people don't. It's such a significant part of my life that I can't even imagine what it might be like to not feel it. Eye contact doesn't cause physical pain for me like looking at the sun, but it does make me quite uncomfortable. I can manage it for a few seconds before I really start to get antsy and have to look away. I usually make occasional quick glances of eye contact.

I usually get accused of staring at people. For the most part, people are inside their own heads and I am okay looking at their eyes because they aren't really seeing me anyway. It feels like observation. When someone does look back with the intention of connecting, yes, squick.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I haven't figured why.


I see eye contact more of a utility thing than a social/emotional 'tell'.
Because from where I live, to notice which running tricycle is available for a ride in a middle of the road, it requires eye contact and acknowledging eye contact. Along with few minor body languages and gestures (nods/head shakes, shrugs, hand waves, lip pointing...).

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I fake eye contact in certain situations, and in other situations I just stare at the ground because it is too painful to even attempt to fake it. People generally aren't rude enough to point it out, so I get off easy !

I wonder this too. Like with the other autistics I know or if I dated the person, I can make perfect eye contact. But for anyone else, I feel vulnerable and violated. Eyes are like lasers I can't stand. I look at people's mouths most of the time.

Before it came to my attention that I might have Asperger's five months ago, I actually did think that everyone felt the same way as I do when looking people in the eye. I also didn't realise how little eye contact I made compared with others.

The expectation for eye contact varies widely among cultures. Unfortunately, the Police seem to be trained to assume that lack of eye contact is a sure sign of lying.