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Noop
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

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Joined: 15 Jul 2011
Age: 30
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Location: England, UK

10 Aug 2011, 10:17 am

People always tell me I'm not smiling enough or to 'cheer up' and many Aspies seems to have the same problem, but I don't think all of them do.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Veteran
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10 Aug 2011, 10:27 am

Jamesy wrote:
Do people wiht autism and aspergers show a lot less emotion/expressions in there faces when they speak compared too an NT????

I tend to go the opposite direction and am a bit too animated.



SmallFruitSong
Velociraptor
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10 Aug 2011, 11:12 am

My psychologist described my facial expressions as thus: mostly flat unless talking, where I will show appropriate expressions. She described it as akin to watching an on/off switch in action. She went on to say that it used to perturb her a little when she was talking to me during our initial sessions, but she got used to it and now is okay with it.

A former supervisor of mine also mentioned that I had a rather "flat" expression, but she also grew accustomed to it once she worked out that me looking at her flatly didn't mean I wasn't listening to her, because after she finished talking she noticed I would carry out her instructions.

I thought those comments were interesting to me because I'm not vain enough to constantly hold a mirror to my face to check my facial expressions :P


_________________
Said the apple to the orange,
"Oh, I wanted you to come
Close to me and
Kiss me to the core."

Think you're ASD? Get thee to a professional!


dancing_penguin
Pileated woodpecker
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10 Aug 2011, 11:33 am

I think I'm reasonably good with looking happy, particularly if something is funny. Pretty much everything else ends up pretty neutral (although I suspect much of my happy ends up looking pretty neutral, too).

A funny related anecdote I will share here:
A couple of years ago, a guy I had volunteered with on a video project asked me to play one of the characters in his local network TV commercial. So there I was in costume and extreme make-up (I was supposed to be the granny, so had like latex face paint on and powder in my hair). Anyway, I was supposed to look angry and frustrated for part of my role. So I tried to "look angry." Apparently I didn't look any more than neutral. So they decided to coach me in the expression. They tried to teach me and I tried to figure it out for probably 15 min. or so, and I still could only barely get the sort of look they were after. They thought it was pretty funny, but remarked, "looks like we'll never know when she's actually angry."

I am also reminded of this cartoon: dog expressions