Eye contact with family.

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Eye contact has always been weird for me. If I'm talking to someone about something I have to actually think about, I have to look away from their face so I can concentrate on what I'm saying as when I'm looking at someone in the face all I can think about is the fact that I'm looking at them in the face. This is usually more intense with people I don't know (non-family) but I also notice that I have a hard time looking my family in the face/eyes quite often in just a general everyday setting.
For instance, when I come downstairs to either go into the kitchen or bathroom I have to pass through my mothers room where she's usually sitting on my right as I come through the door, I usually just look directly infront of myself or at the clock, or pretend I've seen something interesting just so that I don't have to look at her in the face/eyes and have that uncomfortable feeling. Once I've been around her for about a minute and a few words have been exchanged then I'm able to look

I know that this is somewhat of a common issue for people with ASD but how common is it to have the issue with your family and not just people you don't know?

I don't make real eye contact at all. I can fake, but I often don't bother to fake with my family.

What you've said here is absolutely verbatim how I have always felt about eye contact. I think in images, pictures/pictorial. I have to "watch" my thoughts as I formulate them, edit them and then convert them into language. I simply can not do this effectively unless I am looking away from the person I'm communicating with. It doesn't matter if it's a stranger or a family member. Looking at someone is intense in it's own right and exactly like you, it's visual over stimulation to me. I then can only think about the act of looking at them, how long, when should I look away, am I missing expressions, etc.......

I think it's more intense and distracting for me with family than strangers because we can already communicate much better non-verbally so I have a harder time finding words. Eye contact with strangers is scarier, though.

I have notice that my mother also does not do eye contact. We can be chatting away, and we may both be looking at the same thing in the room as we listen, but eye contact is something I have to remember to do once in a while to keep in practice.

I also feel as though when eye contact is established, people can somehow see more of me than I want them to see? Also like they're trying to communicate in some weird eye-way that I just don't grasp which makes me feel awkward. It's a very weird feeling.

I think I know what you mean and I agree. When someone is making eye contact, especially a non-family member I have this feeling like: "Uh uh, you don't get to go there!". I know they're not actually peering into my mind, but there's a sensation of that that I don't like.

Yeah, I also feel like people are trying to draw emotions or response out of me when they try for eye contact.

This is exactly what it's like for me. I basically don't do eye contact at all with anyone, but I'll come much closer to it if I know the person really well, I'm feeling comfortable, and I don't have to concentrate. In that situation, I'll probably be looking just behind the person's head to the left or right, and maybe if I'm really lucky, the person might think I'm making eye contact.

Having to concentrate, feeling uncomfortable, and not knowing the person well will result in being further away from eye contact. If I'm talking to someone I don't know well, I'm feeling uncomfortable, and I have to concentrate, then you can count on it I'm probably looking completely off to the side, my eyes nowhere near the person I'm talking to.

Identical for me.

I can't remember the last time I made eye contact with my husband, and I trust him more than anyone else. Because I trust him I do sometimes try, but I can't hold it for more than a few seconds before it becomes weird and unpleasant.

When someone tries to lock eyes with me it feels like they are an intruder in my house. I don't want them there. It's threatening. It's an invasion. And as mentioned above, it consumes all of my attention and makes it hard to think.

It's been like this since I was a baby. As a result I am face blind and regularly miss social cues that I would catch if I could just look people in the face.