Why autistic people have issue with eye contact #autism #aspergers #recommended

[acmulhern]

One of the worst things as a child was "look me in the eye when I'm speaking to you ". Eye contact + screaming = not a happy bunny

[kaysnook]

Definitely feels like I am looking into someones soul. I can only do it with my children.

[_moonchild_]

I always struggled making eye contact with people since I was little, it literally stresses me out 😭

[Huh]

Whenever my old teachers use to yell at me for either stimming or “not paying attention” (I wouldn’t look at their faces while they were teaching but I was still paying attention cuz apparently u need to look at someone to use your ears) they would always aggressively tell me to “look at me in the eyes while I speak to you.” The way teachers treat neurodivergent students is so unnecessarily rude.

[raea]

One of the many reasons I don't look people in the eye is because it's yet another strong sensory activity for my brain to focus on. I can actually pay attention to what you're saying better if I'm not looking directly at you.

[nataly]

What I’ve been trying to explain to my classmates and professors in my Occupational Therapy program!! I’m so sick of people making “goals” with eye contact. I’m just like….you should first learn and understand WHY we avoid eye contact in the first place!

[Faye.Louise]

I feel like it actually hurts! Like a burning feeling. With the career I am going into, communication is huge so I find sometimes I struggle with eye contact so badly as we are constantly communicating so then I find I go full throttle with panicking I'm not making the right eye contact and then instead become intense with staring at them and they always seem uncomfortable when I do that, but I can't get it right. It's so hard! I permanently think about how much eye contact I make when I talk with someone and it takes over my mind! Sometimes I even miss what people say because my thoughts are consumed with getting the eye contact right! 🤦🏽‍♀️

[Katherine-epms]

I didn’t like that when you looked straight at me 😭

[Kazurhix]

Diagnosed high-functioning aspie here.
The reason I always gave people for why I wouldn't make eye contact when I was younger was something to the affect of "I can usually tell your talking to me in particular with just context clues (like us being the only 2 people in the room), so there's no good reason why you can't do the same. Sound travels in all directions from it's source, so I don't have to look at you to hear you, & I shouldn't have to face you to be heard. Lastly, there's a whole world of stimulation around us, so why exactly do I need to put all my focus solely on your face?"
I did eventually get better about it, but it's still very much a learned behavior that I have to make the conscious decision to make eye contact for polite conversation.

[federicanardi]

I look at people's mouth when they talk and between their eyebrows when they talk. It works for me and not many people notice.
The only person I can actually look into the eyes if my partner. It's what you said. Too intense and too intimate.

[manbeckl]

Yes! Thank you for this. I find eye contact to be especially intimidating when it comes to someone that I don’t know, or worse, that I don’t like/I know doesn’t like me.

[thebullwhisperer]

Makes perfect sense. Too much eye contact can be intimidating or give off the wrong idea

[obiscygma]

The way I describe it to normies: "Imagine shaking someone's hand when you meet them... but then, instead of letting go after a few seconds, you just keep shaking their hand continuously while you talk to them - until the conversation ends... That'd feel a bit awkward, right?"

[hello_kitty]

I’m not sure if I have autism or not but watching your videos makes me feel like I do because I relate to all of this x

[perceptionplace.]

Hey im newly diagnosed it took me a long time to absorb the feeling of looking others in the eye. 29 now, but when little I would talk to people with my eyes closed lol.

[cosmicqueen]

Thank you for this. Appreciate this channel.

[sugoiharris]

My brother used to ask why I looked at his forehead instead of his eyes when I talked to him. Now I know. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[thedinonuggielord]

I’m getting an autism test soon and this is one of the things I do.

[robertwallace]

Thank you for your videos as I'm currently doing DBT as I'm down as emotionally unstable personality disorder also on meds but seems like education skill base work is best for me as meds mask the problem, your awesome as not many do what your doing.
Thank you

[dathlves]

Thank you for saying Autism is awesome. ❤