Judging Age

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Hi Everyone:

I have a problem judging people's age and I was wondering if anyone else is the same? Now, I don't confuse children for adults. However, once people are adults, I have a hard time figuring out how old they are. For example, I have to see a physical therapist for a leg I had surgery on. I told her it was my 20 year high school reunion last week and she told me she just had her 10 year high school reunion. I almost fell over in the pool because I thought she was way older than me. The same is true in all situations, with either men or women.

Anyway, I hope this makes a modicum of sense.

Yes I often have difficulty too, but I think the reasons for that are two-fold:

1) I look much younger than I am and so find it difficult to judge others in comparison.

2) In many ways I feel as though I'm stuck as a child mentally and so my mental self-image is all wrong, so once again I make terrible age comparisons.

This is a familiar experience for me. I've always looked young and never really assumed a fully adult role. There's me and there are "real" adults who are perceived as vaguely older. I am always surprised when some old man stranger strikes up a conversation as if we have something in common. First it's amusing, "He thinks we're peers." Then it's shocking, "We ARE peers! Really? When did THAT happen?"

I also have trouble guessing ages. I make young people younger and old people older. And, shallow and impractical as it is at my time of life, I am way too sensitive to signs of aging.

Why should knowing someone's age be important (unless you are selling alcohol or something else that is not legal to sell to persons under a certain age)?

I have trouble judging a person's age,too. Also, I look about 15 years younger than I am, which adds to the confusion. When I first met my fiance, he thought that I was much younger and was afraid to approach me! He was so relieved to find that we were peers. Even so, there are times when I find that I feel much younger than everyone I talk to. And, I am definitely immature in certain areas. I blush and giggle when I am complimented, and love slapstick humor. I still like to re-read my large collection of children's books, and don't really care for things like alcohol, make-up, or high heels.

I too have problems judging how old people are. So for example if someone was really 30 I often have a hard time narrowing it down to more accurately than somewhere between 20 and 40.

I really struggled with one WP member who posted his photo a few months ago; I could not guess his age any narrower than between 25 and 70! Though such people are fairly rare. The problems occur when their features seem to contradict each other like young eyes but some grey hair or some wrinkles. It is as though I can't process a person's whole face at once but only parts of it at any one time.

I wonder if this "age blindness" is more common amongst those of us on the spectrum than the NT population?

Same for me, I can't judge what age someone is if they are 16-60.

For me people can be classified into 7 "ages":
Around 1 (when can't walk)
Around 5 ( really small children)
Around 12 ( biggy)
Between 15 and 25 ( young people)
Between 25 and 40 ( adults)
Between 40 and 55 (old people)
Over 55 (really old people)
Don't know if that's normal. I think it isn't because NTs normally get the age right or miss it for 4 years.

This often, but it's normally with people around 10-20. If I can't figure out a kid's age, I just assume they're 15.

Now that you have said it I believe that it gets better to say:
Between 25 and 40: young adults( 35 isn't really young but I couldn't come up with anything better)
Between 40 and 50: adults
Over 50 : old people
Better this way? You understood me the first time but let's get the terminology correct.
And answring hartzofspace's question, I'm 17.

I have no clue how old someone is by looking at them. I can barely tell if they are young or old unless they are really old with wrinkles on their skin. Otherwise everyone looks the same to me. I don't even know how old a kid is by looking at them. I am absolutely the worst at telling ages. People tell me I look young for my age and I am 28 years young.