Walking around in public

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Recenlty, a peer has brought to my attention that I walk weird. Well, I knew this. But he tells me "really weird". I passed him in the hall without even seeing him earlier, and he had to come up to me to get my attention. he tells me that I just look straight ahead with a blank stare, I appear to be a zombie on an important mission, and people are going to wonder whats wrong with me.

He's incredibly honest, and he only is telling me this stuff because he says he wants to help me be better socially,l something I want too. Its not that I'm worried about people making dumb assumptions, rather I want to seem approachable and friendly, and be able to say hi to people passing me by rather than seeming like I don't care.

Is there any good way to practise walking normally, or catching yourself in the act of walking around while deep in intense thought? I remember in a pervious post, someone typed about a mirror technique, looking at yourself in the mirror to improve your eye contact. Is there anything like this you can do when walking around?

I used to have this problem. Somehow, it faded out over time, and I now walk like pretty much everyone else. But I still have no idea what it means to "walk around weird".

Why not tell us why you walk like that? What is in your mind as you walk? Are you thinking about something? Or are you avoiding people because social contact frightens you?

If you are walking the way you do to avoid social interaction, practice won't change anything. You have to get over the fear of social interaction first.

I tend to walk funny when I feel like everyone is staring at me, or i'm thinking about how I look when I'm walking. Any ideas on how to tune out would be cool.

That happens to me the whole if people are looking at me thing. People have said I walk with a bounce and often I walk with stupidly wide steps to travel quicker (only if I need to).

My husband has always told me that I "walk funny". I know part of it is that I'm a little off-balance but I don't know what the rest of it is. My facial expressions aways get me into trouble too - a lot of the time I look irritated or angry even though I'm not. I guess a mirror might help with that. I tend to not notice people too, or even if I do notice them I don't look at them or talk to them unless they say something to me first... that's something for me to work on because I don't want to come across as a snob or anything like that. It's mostly just a matter of consciously reminding myself about that.

I've noticed for some aspies hand/arm positioning and movements can make them look pretty weird when they're walking. I have an aspie coworker who doesn't swing her arms when she's walking, they stay still at her sides. I always knew something didn't look right but it took me two years before I suddenly realized what it was. Also, my dad (a bit aspie) swings his arms normally but he holds his hands stiff, fingers straight instead of relaxed when he's walking. Awhile ago my brother-in-law saw him downtown, from behind a block away. "Is that him?" He looked at the guy's hands and sure enough, it was definitely Dad. Then there's the autistic hand/arm positions and movements that I tend to get myself when I'm tired or overloaded...

Just a couple of days ago my husband was talking about a new coworker in the factory where he works. (My husband is really good at describing people and even imitating them.) From everything he said about this guy, he sounds very aspie to me. One of the biggest things the guys in the factory notice is that this guy "walks weird", he just has a really weird presence when he's walking somewhere. Everyone calls him "The Killer" because of that presence he has. According to my husband this guy's upper body (arms etc) doesn't move at all when he's walking, only his legs move. His facial expression looks like he's ready to kill somebody (thus the name), and if you walk past him and say hi he doesn't really make eye contact. He just kinda looks at you out of the corner of his eye and you might get a quick, quiet "Hi", mouth barely moving. They say if you talk to this guy one-on-one though, he's a really nice friendly guy.

I am almost always thinking about something. Something is always on my mind. I have to figure out some way to turn my thoughts off when i am in public, and focus on whats going on around me maybe. Social contact, with strangers anyways, I also find a little intimidating, and I suppose this manifests itself in my posture.

You know? It is not your job to make people happy.

Famous people purposefully walk the way you do so that fans go away. If you are thinking of something and you are busy, you have the right to walk anyway you want and to look preoccupied if you want.

People will complain about anything just to have something to say. People are busybodies. If you think someone is trying to help you, listen to them. If they are commenting on your walking because they are busybodies, forget it.

I have CP, so I don't think anything of it.

Yeah, so do I. The funny thing is that I was never aware of it until seeing myself on video (an extremely painful expereince that makes me cringe just thinking about it) and it didn't fully sink in until I met another autie and saw how she walked around.,...and then realized that I had many of the same walking patterns, therefore I probably do look soemwhat like her when I walk (! !!)

I don't know how to walk any other way. People will just have to get used to it and accept me, stare at me as I go, or ignore it.

I know I walk funny....trust me people tell me that, its one of the only times they are honest with me. For one thing my
co-ordination is pretty lousy and when I try to speed up or walk up stairs I trip over myself. I also weave when I walk, I cannot walk in a straight line for some reason. And people just tell me basically that there is something wrong in my locomotion, they don't say it that way but thats what they mean. I personally think its to be expected considering my beginnings. I rolled or scooted rather than crawled and walked on my toes for the first year I walked, I'm still more comfortable doing so. I feel almost more balanced that way.

What's wrong with walking funny?

I don't walk funny, but I do tend to run a tad flat-footed.

I have a little Swing in my step. Is that considered funny?

I've always walked funny but other people seemed to have a bigger problem with it than me. I used to walk without swinging my arms and all stiff until I hit middle school trying to change it so others would leave me alone. Nowadays, I walk down the street either bouncing like a little kid or if I don't feel safe, I go at a fast clip and with this "don't mess with me" look on my face so any would-be criminals won't think I'm an easy target.

In other words, I walk however I darn well want to. There's already too much that others want to control in my life and I'm definately not going to let them run how I move. That's stupid.

okay, i sometimes walk with one arm swinging back-and-forth while the other is hanging dead at my side. it drives my brother nuts.