Do you care about people staring?

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I generally feel uncomfortable with people staring at me... I like to keep in the shadows so to speak and generally dont like drawing too much attention to myself ( however i have probably been more open on these forums about myself than anywhere else in my history!) . Despite me not like people looking at me im often look at people, im a natural observer of people and life, so cant get upset when i do the same.

I don't care whether people are staring at me or not. I usually don't notice, anyways. I go through my days doing my own thing, anyways.

I don't notice at first (mostly not at all) but sometimes when I do, it can be embarrassing, but at that point I'm more worried about how to get away from the thing causing overload.

I just stare at them back and they stop.

I think I have finally figured out why people stare at me so much in public. It's because of my face. My relaxed face looks rather miserable, but also shyness and anxiety can cause a negative facial expression too, and I do feel anxious in public. So, for some strange reason, having a miserable facial expression seems to cause people to stare, although I'd have thought it would do the opposite, as who wants to look at a miserable face?

I have asked NT relatives what they think, and they were honest with me and said that I do look "fed up" a lot.

So at least I now know why people stare. Before I was getting really frustrated because I did my best to look presentable and act normal, but apparently it's not that, it's just my facial expression. I suppose I need to work on keeping up a happier facial expression.

I don't make eye contact with strangers, and if I do it's like a double dare. But by looking straight ahead I can still see people staring at me because I have strong periphery vision, which I wish I didn't have. The only way to not see their gaze is if I look right down and stare at the ground. But I don't really like doing that, as it makes me appear unfriendly or nervous.

I have always looked quite striking and so am used to being stared at. When I was younger strangers often asked to photograph me. It hasn't happened for a few years now but that might be because I rarely go out.

Regarding eye contact -
I bought an e-book about how to interact and there was a chapter on eye contact. It suggested that the appropriate amount when meeting someone new was enough to establish what colour eyes they have. I have used this with some success - in terms of knowing what colour eyes my postman has. And the men who delivered my new fridge last week.

I don't stim in public unless I really have to and in that case I would care less about people staring.
I generally don't pay much attention to other people though so if someone stares at me I wouldn't probably realize it and I tend to smile if I catch someone looking at me (my default face expression when interacting with people is duchenne smile unless I am really sad/tired/overwhelmed) - so its hard to experience negative emotions for both sides (smile is contagious and using smile muscles increases your mood and relieves stress https://expertbeacon.com/smiling-helps- ... wer-stress).

Yesterday I was on a science event with a friend. I not only didn't care everyone was looking at me when I shared my comments and asked questions out loud in public during the presentation and training part but I also had no idea the friend was following me with a mobile phone in camera mode when we walked around checking attractions. I was too focused on all the interesting stuff around to pay any attention to him. I did see he was using his phone whenever I looked at him but I thought he is either checking something or trying to take a photo. I had no idea it's a movie.

I only acknowledged it today, when he sent me the movie. I am not sure if people were staring at me a lot or not but I was staring a lot - at stuff and some people. I rarely made eye contact with my friend but everytime I did I was sending my duchenne smile and returning to whatever I was doing. I didn't even make eye contact with people who I was talking with - my sight was focused on the stuff we were taking about or in the space somewhere. And the nonverbal behavior I was intentionally using(nodding, head shaking) looked more like ticks than communication. I guess I need more movies of myself so I can catch such mistakes and figure out how to fix them - I am aware my body language is exaggerated but I had no idea it is THAT unnatural. I think I could use the movie in diagnosis process if I weren't already diagnosed. I do look pretty autistic when I am having fun...

Incidentally I was asked if I get stressed when people are staring at me during the event too - because I were connected to a lie detector device (For the science! ) and it shown up a pretty high blood pressure or whatever it was(108-130, my friend had it 90-110). But I was unable to say for sure because I was afraid and uncomfortable because of the device (the skin sensors made my fingers uncomfortable and the clip was hurting my ear) in addition to slight sensory overload I was already experiencing (the area was full of chaotic sounds and visual clutter although it wasn't as bad as an average shopping center - all sounds were at bearable level, the crowd was not dense and there was almost no music except for some African drums in the background).

Staring is burning me. Eyes making burns on me. Hurts my skin.

I don't really pay any attention to other people to notice TBH.

I do if I notice, but I don't always notice.

If I'm stimming I likely don't notice people staring. If I notice, it bothers me; I feel threatened by it.

But at work, if I'm trying to work and the door to my space is open and there is a person checking in a patient at the front desk--I already don't like it, but if they turn my way and look at me I really don't like it. And if they stare I literally can't work. All I can do is focus on the fact that someone is staring at me Usually I get up and slide the door shut so they can't see me.