why do most autistic people need glasses

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this my first poll

apparently i have "exceptional" eyesight and dont need glasses or contacts or anything but iv noticed how common it is for autistic people to require glasses

do you require glasses/contacts?

same goes with downs syndrome too when i went to special school every child in the my class wore glasses no lie , except me
the children all either had autism or downs or both

what it is with special needs and glasses?am i the only autistic that doesnt need glasses?

Undiagnosed but most of my family wears glasses, I have since 2nd grade. I'm 41 now.

Very good question, I have no idea! I never wear them at home but I definitely need them to drive and at work. I feel lost without them.

I need glasses if I drive, but otherwise I don't wear glasses. I just squint a lot when reading small print or words that are at a distance away, but that doesn't affect my everyday life.

I know lots of NTs wear glasses too but for some reason I feel like a stereotypical Aspie if I wear glasses and I worry that I might look plain or "weak", as I don't usually wear make-up. Also I can't stand the feel of glasses perched on my nose all day. I think glasses suit older people better, but because I look rather young for my age and also a bit stupid too, I fear that glasses will feed these vibes.

I drove from 17 (legal age) to 25 years old.

Passed both tests first time.

I wear glasses since my eyesight was developed myopia around 16.
And is completely my fault. I spent playing in the PC up close to the monitor, from age 15-18, for 10+ hours per day.

Then I had a tablet. Now I have a phone.

But so do at least half of people I've met.
It's just becoming more common because of technology.
My childhood friends and peers, who came from the same era most especially.

Except I was good ignoring and working around my own photosensitivity.
I don't know anyone else who actually needs any lens for light intensity indoors AND outdoors.
I haven't able to actually accommodate it until like last year.


I'm aware of cases having to be born with severe and sometimes complex issues with eyesight -- but nothing about autism, but more about, say, cerebral palsy.
I haven't seen enough DS cases to say something about it.


But if it's about autism and eyesight, I speculate it's probably their individual habit and/or visual processing than eyesight.

Super-focusing close at special interest activities and without a break, or without moving the eyes freely for hours would likely do something to someone's eyes.
How a person ends up developing eyesight issues varies.


Not to mention sensory related preferences of lighting/color that may or may not cause more eye strain or likely causing sensory overload.

Perhaps less about needing glasses because of eyesight, but more about sensory processing.
But so do various ND cases like ADHD.
Not like the kind of aide from traditional eyeglasses, but more of an aide or something for comfort like earplugs.

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My daughter started wearing glasses last year after her 15th B/day.

This thread ought to be ripped from the soil by the root like that the idiotic weed that it is.

If youre gonna have a poll: have SOME mercy on your tortured victim please! Your victim being...truth.

First off...just tell the readers this: "NO one over forty can can respond to this poll" ( because most folks, including folks who never wore glasses most of their lives- like moi- DO need at least over the counter reading glasses at middle age).

Second make separate check boxes for NTs and for ASDs. Do you need glasses and are NT? Do you NOT need glasses and are NT? Do you need glasses and are on the autism spectrum? Are you autistic, but do NOT need glasses?

Like that.

That way you have at least a crudely scientific sample rather than this nonsense. At least make a crude attempt to actually test your hypothesis: that autism correlates with eye glass wearing.

Autism DOES NOT correlate with eyeglass wearing.

The profession of optometry is alive and well.....as long as laser surgery continues to cost an arm and a leg.

I would say, actually, that the majority of people over about age 12 need glasses for SOMETHING.

over 40 percent of the world's population need glasses.
I got corrective lenses at age 8 and it helped to be able to see clearly. But there was/is no help for my 25th percentile visual processing... people kept telling me my vision was corrected, there was no excuse for not understanding except that I was simply not paying attention, and that I was not trying. I was punished accordingly. Nobody knew about my autism.

This is true for young children, yes.

But once even “normal” people reach the age of about 12, they “catch up” in terms of needing glasses.

Your title, "why do most autistic people need glasses?":. Assumes, most autistics need glasses. However you did not cute a PubMed articles.

Your title implies most neurotypicals do not need glasses. You did not cute a PubMed article

You have to control for age

Not all autistics got diagnosed

Not all diagnosis are correct

"Need glasses" is a large range. Some glasses are thicker than others

You have to take into account, both eyes don't always have the same visual acuity

You have to take into account, diagnosis like glaucoma

Not enough information to answer the question



When I was 16 , 20/30 vision

Right now the same, it appears

Don't have a to drive

Not would I want a car to drive


Constantly uptight about getting (correctly or wrongly) assigned financial fault for running over jaywalkers

I did not start wearing glasses until I was 50. That is pretty common and nothing to do with my autism.

I see nothing to suggest autism and visual problems correlate. It is also well know (by scientific studies) that autistic people can have above average visual-spatial abilities. While that is not necessarily linked to vision, if vision problems were higher in the population, it would impact those results.

BTW, folks, let not pile onto the OP. It was a very good question leading from experience. But it simply shows the limits to anecdotal data.

Autistic people or at least certain ones are stereotyped as "nerds" and the stereotype of a nerd entails wearing of glasses, especially black horn-rimmed glasses.