Does anyone know...

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When I was a kid, it just plain didn't occur to me to look people in the eye. When my mom got on my ass about it (and maybe its because she was such a c**t about it, always pointing at her eyes and glaring), I learned how unnerving eye contact is, Now I'm back to not caring.

Hmm the eyes thing is interesting.

I find the eye to be a very complicated and distracting thing. It moves around a lot and has many different parts that move independently of one another. (try counting the parts of an eye one day). People also wear makeup around their eyes and this is very distracting because the makeup is often coloured, or reflective, or smudged, or or or...

I find that if I want to listen to someone properly I must watch their mouth as they talk. Then if I need to respond it helps if I can look at a blank surface/wall and talk as I look at that. I also have to be careful not to become distracted by all of the seperate parts of their mouth.

I think that these aspects are based on sensory issues.

Another aspect that I have noticed, and that others have mentioned already, is the social/animal aspect. If someone looks directly into my eyes for more than a few moments, I assume that they are being aggressive, or have just made a joke and want to see if I think it is funny.

I realise that many people consider "gazing together", intimacy. I don't consider the eyes to be the portal to the soul. To me, the chest is more like where the person "is".

bye

I believe that most people on the spectrum aren't able to make eye contact due to sensory issues. Being on the spectrum myself, it overloads me if I look somebody in the eye for more than two or three seconds.