A question about balance

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My balance and gait have never been anywhere near good, but have got worse in recent months. Part might be due to a sore right sole, and lower back and right hip pain .

There's a tendency to walk diagonally , and to take a few steps in a different direction to those that I really want to go in before correcting myself. I also feel some what more clumsy than usual. Going up stairs there's no problem, but going down them I'm not very confident and am much slower.

Has anyone found the same/similar thing as they've got older; that might be partly age related and partly ASD related?

I am 70 and have found increasing balance problems in the last couple of years. Both stairs and the shower are risky and have to supplement a loss of balance with touch.

We do not often appreciate how much our balance is supplemented with vision. However, when using shampoo in the shower with closed eyes, one can definitely notice the need to lean against the shower wall.

I do not see Aspergers as having much of a bearing on this change of balance.

Even at 71 my balance is still fairly good.

Over 10 years ago I bought a pair of progressive multifocal prescription glasses. I had problems with both near sightedness and farsightedness and bought a pair of glasses to correct both problems at once. These were not bifocal lenses but rather similar with a seamless transition.

They were terrible glasses and after a year or two, I stopped using them.

With these glasses on, I found that it was very difficult walking down a flight of stairs. It was like stepping down from a cloud. Couldn't figure out where my feet were or where the floor was.

After I put aside these glasses I have been happy ever since.

I just have standard glasses for distance. One thing I used to experience was things seeming to move closer to me and then moving back. It was quite disconcerting.

I have issues with balancing as well (age 44). Very often I cannot walk straight, it might look like I were drunk and slalomed. With closed eyes I need a wall to lean to or grab something. And I always thought I have fear of height, but basically it's also a balancing issue, I got dizzy. Also when walking next to someone I tend to bump into them.
And yes, it's getting worse.

^My stepdaughter has said I walk like I'm drunk. I've tried the balance test where you're supposed to stand on one leg for at least 30 secs. I manage from 10-15 secs .