the aspie stare

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could someone explain to me (or even link to a picture) what the "aspie stare" looks like? I find myself wondering if I do it, because I always feel like my eyes look different when I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and don't have the time to adjust my features. There's also a lot of childhood pics of me where I have these huge eyes and a fidgety smile, or just look very wide-eyed.... Is it an uncomfortable stare or just peculiar?

?

I thought it was just where you make eye-contact with someone and don't break it so you kinda like stare them out!

I used to do that when I first found out that you were supposed to make eye-contact... When I was SEVENTEEN lol

Sam x

I will not post a pic of my aspie stare, but i can tell i look psychotic when i stare, especially when i grin. It looks everything from perverted to scary, and the most unlikeable picture is when i stare at my cat..

Actually, I quite like making eye-contact with cats. I like it when you blink at them and they blink back!

(=^-^=)_____ (Purr).

Varies a little bit, it can come across as very intense (frightening in the wrong situations). For some people they look rather blank, like they're disconnected from the people or situation around them.

Someone on the boards here linked a video of a surfer with aspergers. He often had the stare.

I think part of it being that people with apsergers have a hard time with facial expressions, both reading and displaying, and that often our eyes don't quite match the rest of the expression on the face. As if the rest of our face is smiling (often faked in my case for the benefit of those around me) but the eyes aren't.

I am one of those Aspies with the poor eye contact. The way it used to be when I did not realize this issue was that I glanced away from people's eyes and often failed to make eye contact. Then, after deciding to undergo some therapy for eye contact, I now have what I consider as the "Aspie Stare." I am now aware of eye contact whenever I speak to someone, so I end up locking onto their left eye (I lock onto their left eye and the rest of their face sort of fades into a blur). My therapist said a person usually doesn't just hold onto an eye lock like that. He demonstrated proper eye contact, but I can't do it. I either eye dodge, or lock to their left eye. So I think the Aspie stare is when we stay locked onto another person's eyes.

Feel mine is more a delay in visual and thought processing. At times I have difficulty identifying people I casually know if they have loss wieght, changed hair style etc and can stare until I can match the person to my memory. I also get 'beauty shock' much of the time.

I will stare at people who meet my idea of attractiveness, the lines, shape and curves have to be definite. Freeze a great deal if I see an extremely pretty female face, takes me forever to process and store what I'm viewing. Annoys me to the extreme how people can view something and immediately store the image.

Not the most socially appropriate way to obtain stimulation and it took me a while to realise it makes some people uncomfortable. Because it would worry not me I could not understand people's negative reactions.

At times when I'm overly nervous I will keep a fixed stare on the other persons eyes. More problems! Try hard not to repeat these behaviours.

Recently I saw "Rain Man" again, and boy oh boy did it seem different ! ! There was one scene where Dusty was sitting on a park bench and just looking at the ground distracted, and Tom Cruise started YELLING at him. I felt like "Hey ! sometimes I just sit and think about things, and maybe I'm staring at the ground, so cool it Tom." We tend to look off into the horizon while we're talking, and really, it's not a big deal ...

It's just a lack of facial expression, but the muscle tone is still there (unlike someone who has facial nerve damage).

It's usually there in most with AS/AD most of the time.

It has nothing to do with eye contact, as if you're looking away from someone, you'll still have the blank and unreadable look.

It really unsettles "normal" people, as they can't read it.

I used to definately have it, ppl would point it out and I'm sure it looked really weird:D Just a lack of expression, I think it was sort of a "numb" look or kind of similar that people get when they're high or something. I dunno, I've also seen it when looking at myself in the mirror and tried to correct it as well. Which didn't work, but I hoped I didn't have it when talking to ppl because then I'd have something to pay attention to and that would show in my eyes. What is weird is I rarely had it when I was a kid, then had it almost all the time and now I think I'm starting to grow out of it. I tend to be more conscious of what I look like to others now and try to show my emotions and stuff on my face more.

I'm not sure if I have the Aspie Stare or not, but I certainly have something.

At work I've been at my desk working away and people have told me to cheer up when I haven't felt particularly down. Also when I'm just stood somewhere not focusing on anything in particular, although I'm usually feeling fine, people ask me if I'm OK or if I'm pissed off about something.

It must be something about my general demeanour or my neutral (not happy, not sad, just content) facial expression that makes people think I'm about to flip out.

As far as I can tell, there are two types of unusual eye maneuvers in those with AS. There is the "stare" (which often gives the impression of the psychotic serial killer) and there is the "eye flitting" (where the eyes sort of dart around strangely during a conversation).

I don't think I ever get the stare; I'm more of a flitter. Then again, I may not have AS at all, or if I do, it's really mild.

I know I have to try to remember to blink or I will go into the stare especially if I'm tired. I know with the blank stare my mouth is partially open so Im sure I look totally out of it when it occurs. Don't know how to explain it except it must be one more nerve glitch we Aspies live with. Yeah it does sort of embarass me if I were being honest, because I know NTs rarely understand it.

I figure I have "The Stare" because people are always doing one of the following:
A) Asking me if I'm okay because I'm staring off into the distance;
B) Looking behind them to see what I'm staring at;
or C) Telling me to "SMILE!" because I don't have any facial expression.