why do aspies look like like theyre on drugs?

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When I was in college, I used to get asked all of the time if I was high (specifically pot, which I've never smoked in my life). I had longer hair at the time, which didn't help.

Most of the time, it came when someone I knew was walking in my direction and I looked away instead of making eye contact. Usually, I either pretended like I was thinking about something or that I didn't see them (mostly when I wasn't in the mood for chit-chat, which was most of the time). I think most who saw me equated that as me being "spaced out".

It doesn't happen much anymore, but I'm rarely in that kind of situation. The only similar situation now is when I'm at my desk - people come to chat with me, and I typically look back toward my monitor (avoiding eye contact). I can't tell you how often someone asks me if they've caught me in the middle of something when they really haven't.

I remember just walking around my neigbourhood and this old guy accused me of being drunk or on drugs. I was just to nervous to talk to him.
People make comments about my lack of face expression and vacant gaze all the time.

People telling me that they think that I am drugged when I am not - yes, this has happened to me... Later, it occurred to me that as I was expected to look drugged, that if drugged for real no one would notice, and they did not.

I almost forgot one occasion. I was living on a military base, and I went out for cigarettes at like midnight one night. The closest store opened was like a mini mart a couple of blocks from the gate on base. So, I go there, and I see an MP following behind and they go to the mini mart too. I go to the counter and order my cigarettes with an MP behind me (and I even remember his name). Then I leave and proceed to the gate to get back on, and they were behind me by about a minute. The guy at the gate asked me to pull over to be searched. I assumed it was a random search until he said, "yeah, I know it's aweful, but the guys driving around told me they saw you smoking and they didn't know what it was." I said "if he were smart or observant at all, he'd know it was a Marlboro light 100 from a box considering he was standing right behind me when I purchased them. would you like one?" It's funny too, I was once talking to an MP friend of mine, and he was saying how he hates that people thinks cops are stupid. I told him, well MPs are MPs because they didn't score that high on the ASVAB.

Oh yeah, my friends prefer me drunk than sober. I think it's because I let loose and relax, and I get amused easily, even by stupid conversations.

Avoidance of eye contact, stimming, apparent ignoring of social cues - all could spectrum or chemically affected.


M.

@MemberSix Tweakers can look like they're stimming.

The last sort of relationship I was involved in, I was told to clean up as I looked like a stoner. Have never smoked a joint in my life.

do they?
with all due respect, i would query that. i looked at a whole host of photos of aspies in the intro section of WP and my feeling is we look like a normal cross-section of the population. this explodes some myths concerning archetypal aspie presentations....and i am happy about that. we range from looking super-straight through to super-bent. that is a good thing. HAHA - the stereotypical assumptions break down yet again.

I use drugs and my dealer say's I don't look like a druggie.
You really can't tell. Some people that don't use look like they do and some people that do look like they don't. I am aspie btw.

I don't think accusations of 'being on drugs' are about physical attributes - or lack of eye contact (people on drugs don't have eye-contact issues).

I believe it's mostly about choice of off-beat conversational subject matter, lack of facial expressivity, perhaps atypical vocal expression - but as much as any of this, a simple means of saying 'you're weird' ... personally, I'd rather someone just told me I was weird than spread vicious rumours that I'm on narcotics - which raises all kinds of other issues.