I’m still on my journey of understanding the differences between autism and other. My focus today is eye contact, so let’s have a discussion!
Guiding questions:
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What do you think is the underlying difference that causes autistic people to use less eye contact than others?
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What does it feel like for you?
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How do you interpret other people’s eye contact?
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Do you avoid it, use short glances, or maintain NT-levels of eye contact?
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Does it vary by situation?
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Anything else you would like to discuss regarding eye contact?
Question is open to anyone. If not identified, then the assumption is the user is autistic. Otherwise, if you’re NT or other ND, please state so 🙂
Honestly, I think I just avoid looking at people in general. I think it took a while for me to realize I was even doing something unusual. I think I noticed when people seemed to think I should know things like “what color shirt someone was wearing”. Like, why would I know? Not sure that was an autistic thing though or more of a “I don’t want people observing me, so I don’t do that to others” kind of thing.
If I noticed someone is making unusual amounts of eye contract, I probably laughed at them. Just seems ridiculous and they most be trying to do it as a joke.
(self-diagnosed)