Is this poor depth perception?

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Not sure if this is poor depth perception, or if this is some other kind of vision problem. I keep misjudging the size and distance of things. Like when I'm putting things away in the kitchen, I end up banging things against the edges of the shelves. Sometimes break stuff that way.

It happens to me, but not everytime. It seems that when I'm tired or socially overloaded it happens. Or when I'm in a situation with a lot of people, where I need to be "hypervigilant". It seems that I spend all my energy and focus in other things and this part start to fail.

seoquim's answer goes for me too -- I find that when I'm tired or stressed out or nervous about something, I tend to misjudge my physical movements, get more clumsy and accidentally break things that way. When I used to be more open to new people in my life years ago, if I had invited a new friend over I always wound up dropping and smashing a glass or plate that same day or week.

I never even put the causes together, I used to just wonder why I always had to have breakages happen around the same time I had made a new friend! I never put two and two together and realized it was because I was feeling stress and social overload from the situation rather than undiluted gladness...

I also sometimes spill a drink in the process of lifting it to my mouth. I either start tipping the glass before it's even made contact with my lips, or it makes it to my lips but then I over-tip the glass and the drink is running down either side and all over my chin.

I also have quite bad depth perception problems when going down a staircase. I have to go slowly and keep my eyes on each stair or I mis-step my feet and can trip and fall.

Oddly enough I don't have depth perception problems when driving or parking a car -- I have no idea why I've always managed to have normal skill levels in that. I'm quite good at parking and judging distances, spaces and the maneuvers necessary. One one time did I creep up too far to a stone wall in front of my apartment parking space, and ding my front bumper on a piece of the rock. But in my defense, the wall had just been built and I wasn't accustomed to the bits of rock sticking out of it.

Last edited by BirdInFlight on 17 Oct 2014, 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Poor depth reception is an issue for me esp when I am driving it's very difficult for me to accurattly judge the distances between the car(s) in front of me same goes for when I am parking I have no idea how close my bumper is to the one in front of me I always feel I'm going to bump into the person in front of me.

JoelFan, it's so weird, as I was just editing my post before I saw yours, to say that the only time I seem to have good depth perception is when driving and parking! I don't understand why that is, though. It's the only time I seem to be closer to "normal" in my depth perception -- in everything else I have very poor DP, particularly on stairs. It's weird.

Oh yes I have this problem too. I bang plates down harder than I mean to frequently.

When I was taking my driving lessons years ago I had very poor perception of curbs especially when turning left turns. That island thing in the middle of big roads, I was always afraid my back left tire would hit it. Then I'd overcompensate and leave too much room and get too close to the outside lane. It was very hard for me to concentrate on learning to handle the vehicle and get to where I was going efficiently.

It's funny this topic get brought up. Before I knew I has asperger's, I used to blame my eyesight, particularly my lack of depth perception on my social problems. It always felt to me that every social fumble always started with the eyes.

i got simular problems, but i foudn that my depht perception depends on the distance; there are some increments where my depth guess is perfect (but that's not closest to me, so i'll still knock into the door if i dont stay alert).
i think it is becouse, depending on the distance, i alternate which eye actaully sees the item coming; this is especially apparent when something is thrown to me, if i close one eye, i see the item 'blink' in and out of focus, even though i keep a fix on it...

I've learnt to be very careful when reaching for my glass or cup at the table. I've lost count of the times I've knocked over my beverage because it seems further away than what it is - most recently at a coffee shop into my daughter's lap. Luckily it wasn't hot but it was embarrassing for her and me.
Shopping centres are the worst. The shiny floor and the overhead fluorescent lights combined with my wonky depth perception give the illusion that the floor is an abyss which I could fall into at any moment. I start to dig my toes into the floor while I'm walking and end up stumbling.
If there's a seam in the floor it seems a lot closer to me than the floor itself. That's when I suddenly stop and someone crashes into me from behind.
My Irlen lenses have helped a lot with these problems. I wish I'd known about them earlier - it would have saved a lot of spilt milk.