Page 1 of 2 [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

lazyflower
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 4 Sep 2016
Gender: Female
Posts: 136

13 Apr 2017, 4:54 pm

"You don't look autistic" is something I have heard when people find out that I, in fact, am autistic.

And it just got me thinking: how do you look autistic?

What do people even mean by this? Is it related to your behaviour or your physical appearance? I think I once read about the term "aspie eyes". Anyway, I get that it sometimes is obvious that someone is mentally disabled, but how do people expect people with autism/asperger's to look?

Do you think you "look autistic", whatever that means? :)



Last edited by lazyflower on 13 Apr 2017, 5:15 pm, edited 4 times in total.

MagicMeerkat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Jun 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,821
Location: Mel's Hole

13 Apr 2017, 4:58 pm

You apparently have green skin and horns growing out of your head.


_________________
Spell meerkat with a C, and I will bite you.


Glflegolas
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 20 Dec 2016
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Posts: 490
Location: NS, Canada

13 Apr 2017, 5:13 pm

Maybe like any one of these?

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/ ... st/gallery


_________________
~Glflegolas, B.Sc.
The Colourblind Country Chemist & Tropical Tracker

Myers-Briggs personality: The Commander
Asperger's Quiz: 79/111, both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits present. AQ score: 23 Raads-r score: here


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

13 Apr 2017, 5:47 pm

I'm not sure I "look" Aspie or not, but I'm worried I might if I wore glasses. I'm not saying people that wear glasses look like Aspies, but if a (young) Aspie wears glasses I think it lessens the NT mask for the Aspie for some reason, probably because like 98% of Aspies seem to wear glasses.
I don't wear make-up only lipstick, and I have a plain hairstyle, and I seem shy, but I can still get away with masking my AS by the clothes I wear and the fact I don't stim. But I think that if I wore glasses it would make my AS seem obvious. I just know it.
I am blind as a bat but I'm too scared to wear contacts, too scared to have laser surgery, and too scared to wear glasses in case it makes me look Aspie.


_________________
Female


friedmacguffins
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,539

13 Apr 2017, 6:42 pm

People have unique styles of glasses, and wear them, in different positions, on their face, to reflect their mood. Look at lots people, modeling them, to see how you might like to express yourself.



EzraS
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 27,828
Location: Twin Peaks

13 Apr 2017, 7:46 pm

It probably means you don't look a "basket case". Like classic severe autism. I look act that way. I'm told that I look/act very withdrawn and aloof. Don't look at people, don't look like I am listening to them, that I look uncomfortable and nervous and or preoccupied and distracted. That I make all kinds of quirky repetitive hand movements and body movements. Stuff like that.

Being told you don't look autistic can be taken different ways.
It can be taken as someone not believing you.
Or as someone dismissing there's anything seriously wrong with you.
Or as a complement of sorts meaning you don't appear abnormal.

Personally, even though I know it is annoying, I would rather be told I don't look autistic than actually look autistic.



Raleigh
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Jul 2014
Age: 124
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 34,178
Location: Out of my mind

13 Apr 2017, 7:54 pm

Staring eyes and a Rain Man tilt of the head.


_________________
It's like I'm sleepwalking


LittleCandle
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 7 Apr 2017
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 14
Location: The Milky Way

13 Apr 2017, 8:08 pm

I always thought that people with Asperger's Syndrome usually looked like other people. There's no special way you're supposed to look.


_________________
Don't tread on me.


CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,285
Location: Stalag 13

13 Apr 2017, 9:30 pm

There's no such thing as looking autistic. Maybe people are talking about behaviour when they say that.


_________________
Who wants to adopt a Sweet Pea?


Knofskia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jul 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 552
Location: Michigan

13 Apr 2017, 9:40 pm

Here is a list of observable autistic traits: :nerdy: :mrgreen:
1. Lack of eye contact
2. Indirect eye contact
3. "Aspie stare"
4. Flat affect
5. Monotone voice
6. Stiff, robotic movements
7. Any number of non-neurotypical stims
8. Overreaction to sensory input
9. Meltdowns
10. Being aloof
11. Being socially clueless
12. Being extremely literal
13. Monologuing at people
14. Discussing unusual interests
15. Only discussing "special interests"


_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar." :lol:


strings
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

Joined: 27 Jun 2016
Gender: Male
Posts: 241
Location: Texas

13 Apr 2017, 10:18 pm

Knofskia wrote:
Here is a list of observable autistic traits: :nerdy: :mrgreen:
1. Lack of eye contact
2. Indirect eye contact
3. "Aspie stare"
4. Flat affect
5. Monotone voice
6. Stiff, robotic movements
7. Any number of non-neurotypical stims
8. Overreaction to sensory input
9. Meltdowns
10. Being aloof
11. Being socially clueless
12. Being extremely literal
13. Monologuing at people
14. Discussing unusual interests
15. Only discussing "special interests"


I think I score 14 out of 15 on that list! I don't think I ever have meltdowns, though I do sometimes have what I guess could be called shutdowns. My term for it, before I learned I might have HFA/Aspergers, was "going into safe mode," like a satellite that gets sensory overloads and resets its systems and awaits a signal from the ground station to restart.

Oh, and I correct grammar, but not silently...



renaeden
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,173
Location: Western Australia

14 Apr 2017, 12:16 am

"Going into safe mode." I really like that. Mind if I use it?

My lack of eye contact is what sets me apart. I very rarely look at people's faces if I don't know them. Then if I am looking at someone's eyes and they make eye contact with me, I look away quickly.



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

14 Apr 2017, 12:50 am

Knofskia wrote:
Here is a list of observable autistic traits: :nerdy: :mrgreen:
1. Lack of eye contact
2. Indirect eye contact
3. "Aspie stare"
4. Flat affect
5. Monotone voice
6. Stiff, robotic movements
7. Any number of non-neurotypical stims
8. Overreaction to sensory input
9. Meltdowns
10. Being aloof
11. Being socially clueless
12. Being extremely literal
13. Monologuing at people
14. Discussing unusual interests
15. Only discussing "special interests"


I don't think I have any of those. I lack eye contact with strangers in the street but that's more of a social anxiety thing. Otherwise, eye contact comes rather natural to me.


_________________
Female


Edna3362
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Oct 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 11,363
Location: ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔

14 Apr 2017, 1:23 am

Knofskia wrote:
Here is a list of observable autistic traits: :nerdy: :mrgreen:
1. Lack of eye contact
2. Indirect eye contact
3. "Aspie stare"
4. Flat affect
5. Monotone voice
6. Stiff, robotic movements
7. Any number of non-neurotypical stims
8. Overreaction to sensory input
9. Meltdowns
10. Being aloof
11. Being socially clueless
12. Being extremely literal
13. Monologuing at people
14. Discussing unusual interests
15. Only discussing "special interests"

I usually have 11 out of 15, unrestrained.

And, 10 out of 15 of those traits, from my norm are dismissed as 'foreign'. Regionally speaking. :lol:
The rest would really think of you as weird.


_________________
Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.


Knofskia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jul 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 552
Location: Michigan

14 Apr 2017, 11:23 am

strings wrote:
My term for it, before I learned I might have HFA/Aspergers, was "going into safe mode," like a satellite that gets sensory overloads and resets its systems and awaits a signal from the ground station to restart.

:heart: I like that phrase/analogy.
strings wrote:
Oh, and I correct grammar, but not silently...

:thumright: Yeah. I cannot stop myself from mentally correcting someone's spelling and grammar errors as I read. But, I try to stop myself from verbally correcting someone - except at home; those people should know better! :twisted:


_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar." :lol:


Lumi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Sep 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,513
Location: Positive-minded

14 Apr 2017, 9:28 pm

For me, I know I stim out of nowhere at times- it can be complex body movements. My demeanor and facial expressions can be confusing, I guess.


_________________
Slytherin/Thunderbird