The unique eye of autism

Post Reply New Topic

By looking at videos of persons having an Asperger syndrome, I noticed that there was a family resemblance that I not found somewhere else. By looking more I noticed that the difference resulted from an eye in particular. It seemed that there was a normal eye, and an eye with a small abnormality. I had to prove this difference by finding a rather reliable test.

The zone bounded by the black frame differs:

For an optimal test, the person has to be as much as possible faced with the objective.
1) Revolve every eye separately so that the closures of both extremities are aligned.
2) Duplicate the high part, revolve vertically then stuck both parts.



3) Revolve the right eye horizontally to place below the left eye so that the angle of left opening are aligned between them. Then cut approximately in 2/3 of the eye.
4) Get back the right part. Revolve horizontally one of both piece. Then stick between them so that the circumference coincides.

5) Notice the obtained shape.
: Subject not on the autism spectrum
: Subject on the autism spectrum



Examples of persons not on the autism spectrum:
[img=http://s4.postimage.org/aBXrA.jpg]
Examples of persons on the autism spectrum:
[img=http://s4.postimage.org/aC6q9.jpg]

You don't need to duplicate the image and flip it upside-down, I think: just show that the corner of one eye forms a different angle than the other. I really hope you'll test this on more people and publish your findings. However, I also think human errors in the trimming process might be contributing to the tendency to identify uneven eyes in autistics, and in a few of the pictures of autistics you posted here, the eyes don't look uneven at all.

If your results are true, what I suspect is happening is that autistics are focusing more with one eye than with the other. Is there any research on depth perception (or lack thereof) in autistics that could support this?

EDIT: also, do myopic autistics have poorer vision in one eye than the other? I ask this in passing, as I recall someone who very likely had autism and had suffered severe myopia in one eye during childhood.

Ilan wrote (in part): By looking at videos of persons having an Asperger syndrome, I noticed that there was a family resemblance that I not found somewhere else. By looking more I noticed that the difference resulted from an eye in particular. It seemed that there was a normal eye, and an eye with a small abnormality. I had to prove this difference by...

---

Good topic.

Do some of those with Asperger - autism have imperfect vision?

Yes.

Some general areas:

Nystagmus
Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)
Strabismus
Convergence Insufficiency
Imperfect peripheral vision
Eye tracking - reading a book, reading music, tracking a baseball, etc.
Difficulty or inability to see 3D perfectly

and so on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snellen_chart
http://www.nora.cc/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Eye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthoptics

etc.

Based on my limited experience, many eye doctors tend to stick to discussing only the eyes and can become uncomfortable when asked how the eyes relate to reading and comprehension. They will then refer the customer to a neurologist/whoever who can be very uncomfortable with discussing the eyes - even concepts such as reading and comprehension. So it then becomes a kind of endless merry-go-round where it becomes pass the buck/avoid answering the questions about Asperger - Autism - ADHD - Epilepsy - Tourette - reading - comprehension and so on and vision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel

---

http://www.balametrics.com/
http://www.infinitywalk.org/

---

To understand aspects of vision, it can be necessary to look at parts of the brain which most doctors avoid discussing at all - the brainstem - the midbrain - the pons - the medulla - the 12 pairs of cranial nerves - the reticular formation of the brainstem - the cerebellum - and so on.

My limited experience is that many doctors will avoid talking about anything which has to do with the brainstem and the 12 pairs of cranial nerves because they don't know/that area is extremely complicated and many doctors are just cherrypickers, that is, they want the easy cases and nothing else.

Also, in many cases, there is little that can done at all other than to note what is likely the difficulty it seems to me. That's my understanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranial_nerves
http://www.waiting.com/brainstem.html

Pinky and the Brain - Brainstem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snO68aJTOpM

---

The only book I can recall which directly addresses (not a cure) this idea of visual acuity/eye tracking difficulties in detail - including the brainstem and the 12 pairs of cranial nerves is a How To Cure (part of the misunderstanding/ignorance about) Hyperactivity book about ADHD by C. Thomas Wild with Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D. The book reports a temporary improvement (not a cure) in visual acuity due to using the right FDA approved medicine. A number of FDA approved medicines are discussed including: Tirend, NoDoz, Bonine, Ritalin, and Dilantin. None of the medicines are cures.

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateraliza ... n_function

I know I am on the spectrum, and one eye has mild nearsightedness, the other very severe.

Yes, I don't know about severe though.

I have some asymmetry, both in my vision, and eye shape and size, to some extent though it is more subtle. I have noticed this in others as well in varying degrees and wondered if there's a correlation or connection between brain injuries, by degree, and eye or facial asymmetry, perhaps. It's something that has occurred to me is all and have wondered about it.

YES YES YES.

I asked about the connection between this sort of thing awhile ago. There apparently is a link between ASD's and different types of lazy eyes, although one can of course have an eye that is dominant while the other still appears to be relatively normal. I had a lazy eye as a child that was fixed with an operation but I still can't see in 3D, I think this is linked with ASDs as well liked PGD mentioned, it's a neurological issue that can't be fixed.

I am diagnosed ASD and have better than perfect vision (20/15) thanks to PRK surgery.

I will send that thing to research institutes on autisms and i will see what they think about that. My work is over and i can do nothing more.

Hi Ilan. I am having really bad back problems right now so it is hard for me to concentrate on your research with the eyes. But I think I understand what you are talking about.

What I am wanting to do is offer you the best of luck with your research. If who you send this research to does nothing with it, don't feel discouraged. It's just life. But if you feel strongly about it, keep pushing.

I have been down this road with research in my life, and I got frustrated when I perhaps should have pushed it more. My research involved a major discovery of ancient archaeological importance. I have the proof and everything---but because it went against the grain of what was accepted, I couldn't get anyone to take it seriously. But yet I have the proof. So...I took my findings and placed them in a time capsule in the new school building where I teach. When it is opened many years from now, perhaps someone else can do something with it. Well, I am kind of getting the desire to push my research again.

So...good luck on this research.

I would advise you not to be so gung ho about giving your work freely to other (potentially unscrupulous, fame-hungry) people. There are a lot of these types in academia. Rather, you might collect further pilot data an write a research proposal, then identify someone who would be worth offering you a PhD studentship on the basis of that research proposal.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6347/eyespk.png <- My eyes. The image was too large to be posted normally.

Differing characteristics of my right (distorted) eye:

When looking at a color, it adds a yellowish tint.

When eyes are converged or when only reading with right eye, there is a sense of urgency (not sure how else to describe it).

Strenuous

Not dominant

Weaker

More loose skin around the eye

-
History:
I've been to an optometrist numerous times about this,
My eyes are 20:20.
My muscles around my eye are abnormally strong.
My peripheral vision is fantastic.

1st Diagnosis: CVS (Computer Vision Syndrome)
2nd Diagnosis (different optometrist): Convergence Insufficiency

Heredity:
Father has a lazy eye.
Mother has eyes like mine and a hormonal imbalance of the brain, which she recieved as a diagnosis in the 80's, so I'm assuming AS or a BPD.

Edit: Deleted opinions with no basis lol.

This is strange. I've been blind in my left eye since birth, though for some reason I have peripheral vision in the same "blind" eye. We (Family/Doctors) never made the connection to my Aspergers.

Perhaps it's just coincidence, but perhaps not?

-Crow

My eye shape is somewhat unique - they're almond shaped, I can easily makeup them "Asian". But I don't think it's connected with Autism spectrum.

I have Myopia and Amblyopia, my right eye is dominant and it's better. My left eye sees poorer and it's lazy. I have problems with quick reaction, distance and contrast.
Many people in my family have Myopia, so it may be just genetic thing.

Some of the autistic people do not really face the camera therefore I think the results could be wrong (plus, some of the NTs eyes seems a too be slightly "autistic" according to your test but and I find it strange that the asymetry is always on the same side) though it seems that you have spent a lot of time on it and we can clearly see a pattern for now.

I think it's actually pretty common to see better with one eye than with the other, that's even the reason why some people have to wear an eyepatch (my mother did when she was a child) to prevent one eye from becoming "blind" (because the brain tend to only take into account the good eye).

My father and I have astigmatism (very slight) and one of our eye see better than the other (I actually do not need glasses unless you hide my right eye though I prefer to wear them). My mother and my brother have astigmatism and hypermetropia and they both have an eye which see "better" than the other too, and it is the same for my grandmother and my best friend who has astigmatism and myopia.

Asymetry is also very common, everyone is more or less asymetric (Everything on my left side seems to be smaller for example, and my left eye shape is slightly different from my right eye).

But what is interesting here is that the asymetry may be more obvious in some NTs than in some AS but the asymetric pattern still exist.

glider18 : This is a really enlightened comment, thank you very much but my work is all the same finishes because I have ends. I publish it here but i don't think you can do a lot for me. So wait and see.

primaloath : I have nothing to hide and i'm not a researcher so i prefer to communicate my results. If i'm right i don't want lost time.

It is deliberated

The exemples are not high resolution. To better see the difference between the two groups you can look at the column 3 and 4, these are the eyes cut at the middle at the step 3.