Why don't people with aspergers look people in the eye?

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joseph1170
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22 Dec 2012, 4:06 pm

Why don't people with aspergers look people in the eye?



noxnocturne
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22 Dec 2012, 4:09 pm

I just don't feel comfortable doing it; I don't like having people know what I'm thinking at a particular moment.



answeraspergers
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22 Dec 2012, 4:17 pm

Information overload anxiety boundaries and often the fact that you know they suck at reading your mind............they all come into play.



corastorm
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22 Dec 2012, 4:22 pm

For me it has something to do with slow processing. I can't maintain focusing my eyes and process what you're saying to me at the same time.



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22 Dec 2012, 4:31 pm

I get uncomfortable and feel like a shock when I make eye contact.


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22 Dec 2012, 4:40 pm

I can't concentrate on speaking when I'm looking someone in the eye; it's too distracting.



Palakol
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22 Dec 2012, 4:50 pm

I like to keep a kind of distance from those weirdos (other people). Eye contact just seems too intimate.


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izzeme
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22 Dec 2012, 5:56 pm

a combination of physical discomfort and a feeling or crossed boundaries indeed.
i cannot explain why exactly, it just feels wrong.

actually, how about this one: why do neurotypicals insist on looking each other in the eye?
humans are about the only spiecies that does so without it being an agressive signal...



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22 Dec 2012, 6:06 pm

I feel physical pain in my eyeballs.


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22 Dec 2012, 6:41 pm

I have to really concentrate to carry on a conversation and looking people in the eye distracts me. It also makes me feel awkward.

Plus, NTs are ugly. :twisted:



ColdEyesWarmHeart
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22 Dec 2012, 7:16 pm

It feels way too intimate, and people say my eyes are weird.



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22 Dec 2012, 9:59 pm

[Moved from Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation to General Autism Discussion]


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22 Dec 2012, 10:27 pm

Everything was already said:

1. It disturbs communication, because looking at the face is too distracting and makes it hard to concentrate on the conversation
2. In animals usually eye contact means that some kind of attack is going on
3. It kind of hurts and is uncomfortable (because of 1&2, or maybe to some not)
4. Too intimate (to me it is that I only tend to instinctively look women in the eye if in love, but then I am not really listening and attacking them in a sense)


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22 Dec 2012, 10:59 pm

It's painful and distracting. I have better things to do with my eyes.



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22 Dec 2012, 11:28 pm

There's a study that I lost the link to, and it points out that:

People with autism have physiological deficits in the connections between the eyes and brain (I don't know if it was the optic nerve itself or something further back -- probably further back)



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22 Dec 2012, 11:34 pm

For me, lack of natural instinct to do it. My eyes wander all around the room all the time.