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Missworry
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21 Nov 2017, 7:18 am

Hi


I was wondering if some of you can make eye contact and / or use hand gestures when talking?

Thank u



LostGirI
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21 Nov 2017, 11:34 am

I make eye contact but no hand gestures. I always think my eye contact is poor but people tell me it is quite good. It doesn't feel natural though


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EzraS
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21 Nov 2017, 12:02 pm

I can't/don't make eye contact and make gestures instead of talking.



StampySquiddyFan
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21 Nov 2017, 12:06 pm

I sometimes make hand gestures, and I do eye contact sometimes as well. My version of eye contact is looking at somebody's mouth, however, so I never know how to answer the question, "Do you make eye contact?" It is quite possible for somebody on the autism spectrum to be able to make eye contact and gestures, though. Nobody has all the symptoms.


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elbowgrease
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21 Nov 2017, 12:13 pm

I make lots of hand gestures, sometimes, but they don't necessarily have anything to do with what I'm saying.
Eye contact is difficult. I have moments with it. Most of the time I can't figure out which eye I'm supposed to look at, or I get so distracted trying to maintain eye contact that it becomes the only thing I focus on and I miss whatever is actually happening, or completely lost what I'm trying to say if I'm the one talking. I do also have a tendency to look at mouths and teeth instead of eyes. Often, when I do manage to maintain eye contact while I'm speaking, it ends up being a penetrating glare that makes the other person unable to maintain eye contact.
So I'd say, more than 90% of time, no eye contact.



Trogluddite
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21 Nov 2017, 12:52 pm

elbowgrease wrote:
I get so distracted trying to maintain eye contact that it becomes the only thing I focus on and I miss whatever is actually happening, or completely lost what I'm trying to say if I'm the one talking

That is very familiar. Since diagnosis, I explain it to people in terms of "I can either watch you, or I can listen to you, but there may be misunderstandings if I try to do both at once." Naturally, most people prefer that I would listen. Once I'm engrossed in what another person is saying, I often just forget that I'm expected to do it anyway.


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