Being stared at by NT peers

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I've noticed that NT peers seem to stare at me more. It seems like they scrutinize me the most. I guess they want to see if I'm one of them. I don't think I'm one of them even though I have a lot of NT traits.

I suspect it's because I somewhat look like them. I have a generic haircut and some of my clothes can be generic as well. I wonder if changing my appearance will make them scrutinize me less. I think I'll get more attention, but they'll know right away I'm not one of them. I'd rather be judged by my appearance than my behaviors.

If one has unusual hair, one gets more attention.

I wouldn't worry about it. Let them look all they want.

They really should something else on their minds other than staring at people.

I've always been more guilty of staring at others than being stared at. Call me Mr. Cellophane, I suppose.

I get stared at due to my mildly ataxic gait. And the fact that I don't ever dress in feminine clothes (I am female), I don't wear make up ever, I have boyishly short hair, I have spots on my face but do nothing about them, and I wear sunglasses even in the winter. People are probably thinking "she looks drunk", "why the hell is she wearing sunglasses in the winter", "she dresses ugly" etc. I am learning how not to care and I am getting good at not caring.

I can speak about this subject a little. Like SteelMaiden, I have a neurological disease that affects the way I walk. I am not autistic. I am heavily tattooed and have piercing scars on my face, but the rest of me is pretty regular.

Before I was tattooed and still now if I'm wearing long sleeves, I am sometimes scrutinized by people who don't know why I'm moving funny. And I sometimes get unwelcome stares from gentlemen I don't know. Even if my little boy is with me, which I find especially offensive. When I wear short sleeves, no one sees anything else. I have to put up with a lot of stupid questions from people, but no one notices it when I have trouble walking and most men treat me with respect.

I would recommend trying something non permanent out seeing if you like it. Dye your hair a funny color and wear some different clothes. I'd try something in line with your interests. Say, if you like manga, you could do pink hair and kawaii t-shirts. If you like horror movies you could do black hair and zombie shirts. With makeup, without, like change it up and see how it goes.

I do agree that it's good to have an attitude of not caring. But I know sometimes it can get to you to be stared at.

I find other girls in their teens and 20's stare at me. It does creep me out, because I always hear online that staring at others can be rude or creepy, so why do it to me? I don't usually make eye contact with strangers, but I can tell when someone is staring at me, so it makes me glance at them and I find that they ARE staring at me, right in the eyes.

Worse - I often get other girls laughing at me. Well, not often as such, but I can name a few times where I have seen girls snickering at me, not boys or older people, just girls around my age. Not even teenage girls, just girls in their 20's. I can never think why, because I have a good fashion sense (it's a stereotype to say Aspies don't know how to dress fashionably), so I look just like them, and I don't have an odd gait or stim or do any other peculiar things like that what may make people look. I know that because I have high self-awareness, and I've observed NT behaviour for so many years, and now I'm an adult I know how to act to blend in. I don't tart myself up, I just wear trendy casual clothes. I'm into fashion and trends, and I read a lot of magazines, so I know how to dress to look nice, and usually NT relatives and friends that I can trust compliment me and say I look nice, and I know they're not just saying that just to be nice, because these are people who are trendy themselves and would definitely tell me if I did look weird. Plus I have a trim figure, so most things look nice on me anyway.

I've been called "dork", "dweeb" and even things like "f***ing spastic" and "s***face" by groups of young people on the street.

One weird thing I noticed was getting stared at less when I started wearing glasses. I expected people to stare at me more when I wore glasses. Maybe I just act weird when I'm having vision problems.

It depends on how I dress,
or if I've just said something that people disagree with,
or am being quiet.

When I want attention, I'll dress in costume or eccentric clothes ...
I've got the "looking like an artist" one down right, which is fine with me.

I'd rather have people look at me than pretend not to see me.

But of course I don't like it if they disagree with me and give me dirty looks
rather than politely stating their opinion in such a way that we can mutually respect
each others' differences.

...

Ironically I was staring at an autistic adult sitting near me in a small restaurant the other day. My cousin told me his mom was looking like she was getting cross with me.

Really, this is true:

If one has Kanner/classic autism, it usually is obvious, at first glance, especially to someone who is well-informed about autism, that this person is autistic.

Really, I hate when people do this. It's so awkward. I feel out of place basically everywhere I go, because of my strange appearance - short, messy hair, mismatching clothes. Getting weird looks from people just makes it worse. Especially kids, they love to stare.

Whenever I leave the house, I keep to the less used streets.

I get people shouting things at me on the street, but it's usually a homophobic slur of some sort. I'm not gay, but I guess something about me says different, because people like yelling things out car windows or as they're riding their bikes past me. It's usually men but women have yelled things at me too.

Sometimes people just stare, and I don't know why.

They stare at me a lot for various reasons. Hyperness, silly or blatant comments, tics, stims, and the fact that I mostly sit hugging my knees.