I often avoid eye contact

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When I was first trying to figure out how likely it was I was on the spectrum, this was one of the things I assumed didn't apply. I would say to myself "Nah, never had a problem with eye contact"...until I thought about it properly, that is.

It is true that I never really had a problem with it. Certainly, when I was a kid, eye contact was not something that was seen as problematic compared with all my other issues with reading, writing, rocking, socialising, tantrums etc etc,

The strange thing about realising you are on the spectrum is realising just how many behaviours you assumed were normal are in fact not. I can make eye contact with people I am the closest to, apart from that, it takes real effort and makes me uncomfortable. If I am walking past someone at work or in the street I almost always find myself looking down at the ground in front of me or (as others have mentioned) busying myself with some imaginary task such as searching through my pockets or inspecting my fingernails. If I should somehow accidentally meet eyes with some stranger like this I feel massively anxious and tense. I get a sudden sense of panic I cant easily describe.

If I am able to mentally prepare myself for some eye contact in a situation where it serves some clear purpose and the other person is likely to expect it such as speaking to a cashier at a shop, I feel less overwhelmed but it is still uncomfortable.

I don't know if it is eye aversion or just poor memory but it occurs to me that I could not tell you the eye colour of anyone in my family apart from my wife.

I'm sure just about everyone on here has or has had eye contact issues at some point.
I can't do it, except with close friends and family. I'll force myself to do it in certain other situations if I remember.

Does anyone else find it particularly hard to make eye contact with outgoing, extraverted types? (I tend to be put off by those people in general, I suppose.) It seems that such people try especially hard to make eye contact with me, and it really turns me off. I can't look at them at all - it's as if they were shining a spotlight in my face.

Always had an eye contact difficulty. Pushing myself to break it down though. Passing people by in the grocery store is easiest, because they just glance at you, then return to what they were doing. If you look away back to your own business then, just as they did, that's fine. If you keep staring at them or do something silly like balancing an orange on your head, then they keep staring at you . . .
Conversations are harder. You are the person's business, so they look at you. Every now and then I can at least glace up at someone, or even make eye contact through a decent chunk of the conversation. It's a slow process but it's coming along, I think.

I've learned to either wear reflective sunglasses or look at an individual's mouth as they speak.

Yes i find it very difficult to maintain eye contact with people, i can look briefly but it makes me super uncomfortable, i will often try to quickly look back at the person every 5-10 seconds or so to try to let them know that i am listening, i especially don't like places such as public transport and waiting rooms, the former of which i havent used in many, many years, i try to pick a spot on the roof or out of a window to focus on but sometimes if i am in having a bad day and i see somebody staring at me i end up unable to look away this is usually followed by a major meltdown if the person doesnt look away immediately, it troubled me greatly for many years but as i have got older i have learned not to put myself into those situations where there are a lot of people, especially if it is an environment where it is difficult to exit inconspicuosly.