Is there something "off" about the way we look?

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cberg
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01 May 2017, 3:00 pm

I bite my lip so much when I'm concentrating that I still might get it pierced.


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Benjamin the Donkey
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01 May 2017, 7:46 pm

When I was younger, I used to get told I looked "stiff" and walked stiffly. I don't get that so much anymore. I still get told I look "intimidating" when I'm just calm and doing nothing.


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01 May 2017, 10:18 pm

SabbraCadabra wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
I do not think there are any physical features related to autism, it could perhaps effect eye/face expression and such but not like different facial features.


Maybe not directly physical, but most of us do have issues regarding body language, so we don't exercise the same facial muscles or grow the same wrinkles as most people, and we don't walk with the same gait, we don't have the same posture.



Well yeah that all makes sense, but that seems more like coming off as different than having any distinctive physical features. For instance people with downs syndrome have a specific physical features that sort of give it away. But with autism/aspergers it's more how we present ourselves. Like one comment I have gotten is my eyes don't match when I am laughing or seeming to have strong emotion...like they stay kinda neutral or something regardless of my mood or excitement level.


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SabbraCadabra
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02 May 2017, 7:34 am

Sweetleaf wrote:
Well yeah that all makes sense, but that seems more like coming off as different than having any distinctive physical features. For instance people with downs syndrome have a specific physical features that sort of give it away.


Right, but I meant since we don't exercise the same muscles, or grow the same wrinkles, there are subtle differences in how we look. Not quite as distinctive as downs syndrome, no, but people do notice that we look a lot younger than we are.

Another example is that sometimes I get compliments on my leg muscles...well, I've been a toe-walker my whole life, so I'm working out a lot more muscles there.


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02 May 2017, 10:16 am

RetroGamer87 wrote:
I sometimes catch my reflection in a shop window as I walk by there's something "off" about the way I look and the way I move.


I don't know if every ND in this world has those issues but that's true for me and many (if not all) people in the spectrum that I have seen. There's always something that doesn't look quite right. Imho that's what prompts all the bullying and discrimination towards us, first off. They look at us and see there's something odd, but can't be really sure what it is. Then we open up our mouths to speak our minds in public, commit one of those epic autistic mistakes or whatever and these things lead them definitely to think of us as freaks.

Of course, all that don't help one finding partners. Doesn't mean it's impossible, though.



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02 May 2017, 10:24 am

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Yep, I would say so. Everyone in that topic seemed to just credit this to the guys being immature idiots, but I'm not convinced. Why that insult? A character that was cognitively different? Why not just a random expletive if they just wanted to yell something at someone?
I also noted in there that often people with intellectual disabilities are obvious just from the way they look, even if not acting strangely. And that other "different" people like that often single me out in a neurotypical crowd, as if they recognize something about me. I'm not sure, but I think there is a "look" to autistics. Or at least to some.


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BetwixtBetween
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02 May 2017, 11:52 am

I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say yes because low muscle tone seems to occur quite frequently with us, which results in unusual posture and gate. Add to that our lack of understanding non-verbals, and we're probably putting out some pretty weird non-verbals as well. I've had people mis-read my emotional state my entire life (thinking I'm sad when I'm just tired, etc.). Some people in my adult life just kept trying until they finally could read me, but it took them a while. I'm really grateful they did, because now they react to a fairly accurate perception of what I'm feeling. But they told me that reading me is different.



SabbraCadabra
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02 May 2017, 6:38 pm

C2V wrote:
I was dressed in a way I know is normal, in clean black pants and a clean collared shirt with blue stripes on it.


Perhaps you're reading into it too much, and they were only making an immature joke about your resemblance to the character? Forrest Gump does wear blue, collared shirts throughout the majority of the film.


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RandomFox
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03 May 2017, 4:49 am

I definitely improved in this aspect over the years. I started from being an awkward kid wearing non-matching clothes (when I see photos of myself now... I'm a bit shocked), with greasy hair covering my face, walking with my eyes focused on the ground. Very odd looking kid.

Nowadays I look pretty normal, I think... I guess when I'm excited I use gestures too much (a version of hand-flapping haha, but socially more acceptable), fidget, tap on things, I think my face sometimes makes all sorts of strange expressions (I've been told). When I'm calm and just walking or working or sitting in a cafe, I'm sure I look more or less just like other people around me.



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18 May 2017, 5:59 am

I've always been held back by a juvenile-retentive, or really young boyish appearance. At university I was 19/20, but was mistaken for 14. People were very hostile and rude for no other reason than a knee-jerk reaction to my looks. Women over 18 want a man, not a boy. I was still being mistaken for a college-aged kid (around 18-19) at 30 years old. I've had blood tests as people have said I look low testosterone, but these blood tests every other year through my twenties didn't reveal low testosterone.

For aspergers women? Well I have been on dating site for aspergers and there seems an over-representation of obese women. Whether this is a genetic disposition to put on fat or just a lifestyle choice (aspies tend to be inactive shut-ins often) I don't know. What pisses me off is that body matters far more than face to me and most men in females, yet most of them, aspie or not choose to be fat.


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