this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
54 points (98.2% liked)

Autism

6923 readers
10 users here now

A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.

We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.

Community:

Values

  • Acceptance
  • Openness
  • Understanding
  • Equality
  • Reciprocity
  • Mutuality
  • Love

Rules

  1. No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
  2. Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
  3. Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
  4. Do not request donations.
  5. Be respectful in discussions.
  6. Do not post misinformation.
  7. Mark NSFW content accordingly.
  8. Do not promote Autism Speaks.
  9. General Lemmy World rules.

Encouraged

  1. Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
  2. Funny memes.
  3. Respectful venting.
  4. Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
  5. Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
  6. Questions regarding autism.
  7. Questions on confusing situations.
  8. Seeking and sharing support.
  9. Engagement in our community's values.
  10. Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
  11. Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room
  • We have a chat room! Want to engage in dialogue? Come join us at the community's Matrix Chat.

.

Helpful Resources

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
BackOnMyBS
54
How do you experience eye contact? (self.autism)
submitted 7 months ago by BackOnMyBS to c/autism
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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:

  • What do you think is the underlying difference that causes autistic people to use less eye contact than others?

  • What does it feel like for you?

  • How do you interpret other people's eye contact?

  • Do you avoid it, use short glances, or maintain NT-levels of eye contact?

  • Does it vary by situation?

  • 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 ๐Ÿ™‚

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] finkrat 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Self-diagnosed with way too many symptoms of Autism and ADHD.

I'm moderately near sighted so my dependence on my vision as an important sense is lower than normal - I don't focus on visuals very well to begin with, and then Autism on top of it.

If I look at someone, which itself isn't frequent, I look at their face, I don't look right at their eyes. Even when I feel like I'm looking toward the eyes I'm kind of "not focusing" on them per se.

People ask me what someone's eyes look like or their expression was or even eye color, I couldn't tell you. Brain straight up doesn't register it unless I go out of my way to monitor it and then I'm weird for doing so.

Eye contact is a bit "intimate" IMO. You don't need it for day-to-day conversation.

I have eye contacted my wife, but I trust her. Not a regular occurrence. And even then it's a bit odd, but it's her, doesn't bother me as much.