People pointing at things

Post Reply New Topic

I have a hard time telling what people are pointing at. My nephew was pointing at a box with a mini refrigerator and saying "That's my refrigerator," and I couldn't work out what he was pointing at and finally had to ask him. At first I thought he was making some kind of bizarre joke and pointing at something else.

This isn't always the case, sometimes I do see, but many times I don't.

It's actually kind of annoying, and leaves me feeling rather clueless when it happens.

it's difficult to tell when it's our fault and when the person is just doing a piss poor job of pointing.

I sometimes have a problem with pointing, but more often I have trouble follow a person's line of sight. If someone is looking at something, I have a hard time telling what they are looking at. I also have a hard time telling if someone is actually looking at ME, so someone will say something to me and I will often have no idea they are talking to me. Needless so say, they are miffed when I don't respond.

Isn't it a way of literal thinking? A refrigerator not equals a mini refrigerator. Also, why would your nephew have an own refrigerator (not mini)?

This has happened with a lot of people over many years. The common element appears to be me. But yes, sometimes it really is hard to tell when something is our fault and when someone else is f*****g up. I'm trying not to take responsibility for every miscommunication.



I do not know what people are looking at most of the time, yeah.



Well, it might be. I actually thought he meant mini fridge as I've had one in the past as well, but I just couldn't tell where he was pointing and tried to eliminate everything else - like my water bottle, a weird chair on the floor, a wooden chair, but I didn't process the box as a box. I'm always a bit slow to process changes to a room, though.

I've noticed this same problem with myself lately, although I haven't heard of it being associated with AS. Then again, I've just recently self-diagnosed and have much to learn on the subject.

I operate a forklift in a warehouse where people occasionally point to pallets of freight they want me to bring down from an upper rack. For some reason, when I try to trace the imaginary line from the end of their finger to the appropriate pallet, it sort of dissipates along the way. I can't really tell where they are pointing. If I try to guess I usually pick the wrong one, so I have to ask 3-4 times to make sure I get it right. I'm with you on the annoying and clueless part.

Joint attention has been researched extensively in relation to autism:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693124/

I am not very good at it.



Yes. Yes. It is a lot like this. I can't trace a line from their finger to what they are pointing at. To me it's just this vague arc that could include anything.

You have to take into account that their finger and their eye aren't actually pointing in the same direction. So to follow someone's pointing, you don't actually follow their arm; you follow the line from their eye to their fingertip and extend that line. I think maybe it's more difficult a trick to notice for autistics because we don't automatically make eye contact.

I think that when an NT looks where someone is pointing, they must look at the eyes, then the fingertip, then the object. That seems the easiest way to get the location, and it would mesh with the focus they have on each others' eyes.

It works for me, though it takes longer than it does for NTs to figure out what they are indicating.

Thank you! I'll give that a try.

Most of the time I know where people are pointing, but with certain individuals I am almost always wrong. It's like their world is skewed 15 degrees from mine. "Do you mean this one here?" I ask, pointing an additional 15 degrees clockwise from their point. "That's what I said", they answer, irritated. I don't think it's all me, because two of these people cannot read maps unless the map's cardinal directions correspond with the actual cardinal directions.

this. i actually had this issue at work today. some guy came in and asked for cigarettes. did not specify color (of the box), height, or anything. so i grab all of them and lay them out for him. stand there and wait for him to choose, rather than walk all the way to the register, ring him up, and then walk back with the remaining cigarettes. (this had been going on all day as, apparently, i am expected to read minds when it comes to tobacco products). so the guy points and says "those" in an annoyed tone. i grab the box on the end and he gets miffed and shakes his head "the ones on your right". i grab the next box over (which was on my right) and he keeps saying "on your right" and pointing. it gets to the point that i have just picked up each carton and he has denied them all. he finally comes up, says "give me that", and snatches the FIRST freaking carton i held up.

Sometimes it's hard for me to determine what someone is pointing at because I wasn't paying attention to them in the first place. Other times, the person is doing a cr*p job of pointing at whatever it is they're pointing at.

If someone points and says 'over there' I just respond with 'over where - over there is pretty big...'? I tend to need a clear description - pointing only puts me in the general direction. Clear descriptions are the way I actually find what they are pointing out - usually with color, size and/or shape.

Never really thought about this before...

I usually look at people doing this as if they're wasting my time and their time because they are. They need to get off their butt and just do the task themselves instead of trying to use me as an available remote control operated by a form of Charades.

I look at their finger and listen to their words. But they usually say what they are pointing at and describe the stuff that is next to it because I ask. Often my husband goes "Look at that" and I have no idea what I am supposed to look at. Sometime I do know if something is huge and he points to it. I ask him what am I supposed to look at.


Blackcat, you can ask your customers what cigarettes they want and ask them to tell you the brand they want and point to each one and they can say yes or no to what they are pointing at.

I have trouble seeing what people are pointing at then they get annoyed if I don't know what their pointing at I end up pretending to see it otherwise I get into trouble.