Gracefulness and Autism

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I was pondering on gracefulness recently as a friend of mine said recently that I move very gracefully. I was curious, I have known in the past many people in the spectrum who are graceful and even elegant in the way they hold themselves in life. And yet I have met many who have an awkward way of walking and moving.

I would be very interested to hear from you as to how you see yourself. Graceful, awkward or a combination of both?

I think my friend sees me as graceful as I am always pausing pondering and then responding as apposed to reacting. However, interiorly speaking I am often tense and awkward; clamping my jaw and holding my breath.

I have an odd gait and posture, I must touch the walls or the furniture to keep from running into it, going up and down stairs is a nightmare, I must hold the rail and be very careful not to fall. I have all sorts of proprioceptive struggles from depth perception, vestibular, and could not catch a ball if my life depended on it, hits me in the face every time. that was so much fun for everybody else from grade school through HS graduation. very amusing. not. I know very few truly graceful individuals.

I'm pretty awkward and clumsy. I have a lot of issues with proprioception and motor skills.

Probably mostly awkward. Tend to get random bruises from bumping into things that I don't even remember. Also tend to touch walls/ furniture as I go by. Especially getting up at night to go to the restroom I always clip my shoulder into the doorframe and am surprised they aren't constantly bruised up lol. Sometimes I think I can move graceful, but its probably in my mind and in reality I still look super awkward. I also don't tend to stand up straight and tend to look down when walking instead of ahead of me especially if I pass someone I always tend to check out their shoes for some reason.

I wish I was graceful! I don't seem to be able to control my body with great precision. I find learning a dance sequence almost impossible, and even learning the easiest movement in an aerobic class very challenging! When someone shows me a dance move, I have to think really hard about which part of their body they are moving and which is the corresponding part of my own body, and which way they are moving that body part in, and usually I am so caught up in processing this, that I miss most of the instructions! I think I probably have dyspraxia, I was really happy to find their was a name for it a few years ago when I read about it in one of Tony Atwood's book.

A mix of both.

On foot I move very quietly but not very smoothly (lots of little changes in pace and direction, etc).

My racing isn't especially smooth either, but I tend to put a lot of effort into being aware of how much grip I have so it's probably smoother than me walking. To be fair, there's a lot more momentum involved.

I am fairly clumsy in most sports and lack awareness of my own movements.
But many have said that my walk was so quiet that my presence sometimes startled others. This may be due to my peculiar gait, I noticed that some classmates would imitate me.

← Socially awkward and physically clumsy in my childhood and youth, (mostly) overcoming both by taking acting and dancing lessons as an adult.

I think I'm inherently clumsy - seems to be some neuronal thing that makes my "natural" movements rather sudden and unbalanced - but over the years I've applied a few compensatory things to the problem and so it's harder to see much wrong. Mostly it's about controlling my environment so there's nothing to bang into or trip over. Another thing I've done is to acquire a few habits such as thinking and looking before I move, and beginning any movement slowly and deliberately.

Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those "graceful" autistic people learned it manually due to self consciousness.

I am awkward and inept except for dancing (old fashioned swing dancing) and canoe paddling. I love both because when it works, it feels so elegant.

When walking in a crowded area, like the subway, I am almost like dancing around.
I think this is due to my habit of walking quite fast, and my ability to look ahead and make plans on the spot.
So I tend to notice gaps in the crowd, or trolleys or other obstacles up to 10 m away.
So I turn and pass people sideways, turn again walking straight etc, to find the emptyish spots and stay away from spots where I'd have to stop and wait.

On the other hand I am quite clumsy and tend to lose my balance now and then.

So a mix.

/Mats

^^^i useta do that when i was younger and fitter.

Both my late wife and my( s) daughter have commented on my gait. My (s)daughter has said that I walk like I'm drunk. She has also said I'm the clumsiest person she has ever known. My balance and coordination have never been good, and have worsened in the last couple of years.That may well be why I had 2 falls last October, and broke my femur.

I'm only now starting to walk independently without using a walker. I do it when someone else is here , to be on the safe side. I'm very heavy footed.

I am more notable for silence than grace. My posture is not good. Sometimes, I probably look quite awkward, but I think my dancing is OK, and that I look good on a bicycle. Never checked any video, though.