Aspies look younger than they are?

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I sometimes get told I look late teens but i am 23 years old. I wouldn't be surprised if we all have that 'trait'. the question i have is why? why do we come off younger by appearance than 'normal' people?

I actually have the opposite experience.

In my early-mid teens I was buying model rocket motors which are legally classed as explosives and age restricted to 18. I can't say i'd realised the age restriction at the time otherwise i'd have never asked for them, but I wasn't asked for ID once.

I'm now 27, and people generally assume i'm around mid 30's unless they know better and react with shock and denial when they find out my actual age. I think a lot of it the reason for that is the clothing I wear, as well as how I act. I deliberately wear more formal clothing (easy to get away with in an office) and act more formally as much older generations do because people naturally treat me more formally as a result without me needing to ask for any special treatment. I fit in by my possibly unique strategy of deliberately standing out. As long as you present a stereotype people will accept then your sorted.

This eliminates virtually all of the problems I have functioning in wider society as people assume I disapprove of joking around and talking nonsense (instead more correctly coming to the conclusion I am incapable of understanding most of it) and don't expect me to join in. They're happy, i'm happy.

I get this all the time, I'm 30 and other people think that I'm 21/22!

I'm 43 and I get told I look younger. My face doesn't have many wrinkles - I don't use moisturiser etc regularly or follow any sort of 'beauty regime', just cleanser.

I don't go in for make-up or jewellery (apart from a wedding ring) and usually wear jeans and casual tops, maybe that has something to do with it?

Don't think I've had anyone tell me how old I look. Heres a pic see what you think

Been called a baby face most of my life...sometimes get carded for R rated movies despite being 24 >.< but I think having untreated hypothyroidism for about a year and a half before getting medication really aged me. Feel 45, probably look around 24 now

Yep, I am 32 and people say I look around 21 or so. Today someone said I looked younger than 20 - now that's pushing it lol

I read something about this when looking up possible causes of AS. It was linked with the idea that those with autism (whether this is true or not is unknown) have a higher level of oxidative stress or something, which can make us look younger. Can't find the article though, and even though most media claim oxidative stress causes you to look older, apparently there was a study which showed the opposite.
As someone said before, certainly goes against the whole "disabled" label, considering how desperately NTs seek ways to look younger!!

I'm 34 and still get asked for ID at the bottle-o (minimum drinking age in New Zealand is 18.)
When people ask me I usually grin and say "Thanks for the compliment!"

I am 30 and still can look 18 when I bother to trim up a bit.

Naturally, I lagged behind most of my male peers in physical development. I am still building up muscle and tone now to the point of what most other folks with athletic builds looked like in early high school.

Slam me if you will, but one thing that really helped was those magnetic balance bracelets. 5 bucks on eBay... They train you to somehow coordinate your whole body while performing work. When I first put mine on I went to my back hillside and started picking up entire 30ft tall trees and throwing them down into a pile, and I did not slip or strain myself once! You need to wear them for at least a year for them to have semi-permanent effects, which mainly consist of your brain learning to fire sets of muscles in the proper sequences to stabilize you and help you lift and move things better.

Protein shakes also help, especially immediately after you've done heavy work. This will at least help your body recover to where you a) won't be in pain for days and b) won't be as likely to burn off what little precious muscle mass you have.

After you've built yourself up somewhat, you can actually rest easy, just walk around a lot and eat at least 2000 healthy calories a day if you are 6ft or taller. And, sleep, sleep, sleep!

Definitely so ... I used to call it "babyface syndrome". And it's clearly an AS trait.

When I was 23, I got asked for ID when buying alcohol (legal age was 16).

I am 31 but most people think I am 21/22.

G.

Yeah Im 23 and I still pass off as under 18. The last few times, I went to buy a bus pass they were like, adult or student? And student is for under 18. Its also cause Im asian and asians frequently look younger. But then I live in a community that is more then 50% asian. I have a very youthful appearance, I dress, look and act like a teen. Also aspies tend to be immature for there age.

When I was 11-12, people thought I was about 16 .
But when I just turned 14, I Iooked 9 .
Now nearly 15, I could pass for 12-15 .

as a person who think he's on the spectrum, i have to say i totally agree. i'm 28 and a lot of people say i look younger, way younger. when ever i get something that require showing me my id, i always get asked for it. before i had a gf it probably made dating hard because when ever i talked to girls they always thought i was a teenager. i even agree myself that i look young. even though it can be frustrating when asked for an id, i personally like the fact that i appear younger because i think younger people have surtain attractive qualities.

Last month I went to a family reunion and played scrabble with a very distant relative who did not know me. He was about 30 or so, and leaned forward and made some comment about "girls your age" (I was with my 12 year old niece). I'm 28 and he thought she and I were the same age!! LOL!! ! (granted, my niece looks mature for her age-- she looks about 15, as she's already plenty taller than me and puts on makeup better than most of her peers, but still, this is the best age compliment I've had yet!).

I've always looked younger in general though. What do you think?