Do you veer into people when walking?

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I was walking down the sidewalk the other night with my son, and he kept saying, "Stop walking into me!" Darn! I STILL do this! I have been getting complaints from people about this ever since, well, ever.

I don't know why I can't just walk in a straight line but instead always gravitate to the people I am walking with, sometimes almost pushing them off the sidewalk. It is completely unintentional and I am unaware I am doing so until I get told.

Is this an ASD thing?

My 9 year old does this. He is not on the spectrum, but has Sensory Processing Disorder. He also tends to walk into other people on the sidewalk who are walking in the opposite direction. I was told (by an OT who evaluated him), that it was a motor planning issue related to the sensory processing issue. It has to do with being aware of where your body is in space. They told me that wearing a tight shirt (like a tight swimming or running shirt) under his regular shirt would help, but he couldn't stand the way they felt under his clothes.

I think it has to do with ASD only because ASD often comes with sensory processing issues, but it is not exclusive to ASD.

I agree with Fitzi. I think it's a sensory integration issue. I sometimes bump into things when I am walking (people, corners, furniture, etc). I notice I generally don't realize I am going to collide until it is too late to correct my course. It's like the visual part of my brain that is calculating the trajectory I need to take is miscalibrated.

I also think it happens to me because if I am really "in" to what I am thinking, I don't think I pay close enough attention to what's going on around me. I am vaguely aware of the people, corners, and furniture, but not to the degree necessary to avoid "clipping" them. I say clipping because I don't fully collide with things like "head on." It's more than I'm in inch away from where I need to be (an inch to close), so I clip the thing I could have avoided.

I hate walking down the halls at school because I am very clumsy and often almost bump into people. I also often veer off the sidewalk, especially while running.

Don't know if it is an Aspie thing, but it IS a symptom of something called "Irlen Syndrome".

I used to do this all the time and then I got better at it and don't do it anymore.

I do that all the time. Every now and then I'll realise what I'm doing and move over but I will gravitate back to gradually running them off the path again. I get a lot of complaints.
I have Irlen syndrome as well.

Thanks for telling me about Irlen Syndrome!

It is time for me to see the eye doctor anyways... I have only been once in my life (I know, I know...don't scold!) I went the one time because I was noticing that my depth perception was off a little bit when I was driving, but the eye doctor said my vision was nearly perfect.

I skip lines and lose my place when reading. I also get headaches, visual migraines, and when I am done using the computer, I have problems with my eyes focusing on other stuff. I also get dry eyes (which then water or turn extremely red.) Florescent lights really bother me as well. When I was a kid, I had problems writing in a straight line on paper and my letters started out big and got small. (I have become better at this, but it takes a lot of effort.) I also have a hard time placing words. If I made a yard sale sign, for example, it would come out very funny looking.

^ Irlen lenses have made a huge difference in my life. I'm more verbal now, I feel I can actually 'look' at things instead of being overwhelmed by brightness, don't get eye strain, hardly get a headache, depth perception is better, can drive at night without seeing huge halos around lights - I could go on and on.
Definitely get checked out for this!

If anything I tend to veer away from people. I hate my air space being invaded by strangers, so although I'm rather clumsy, I guess I compensate almost instinctively, by being extremely aware of people approaching, and avoiding situations where there isn't plenty of room to steer clear.

I have dyspraxia and other neurological conditions as well as autism. I find it hard to keep walking in a straight line. So I bump into lots of things.

All the time! I do it to my mom a lot... XD.

I usually don't bump into people, anymore at least. I tend to not walk within four feet of people, unless they're family or friend that I like. I do have trouble walking in a straight line.
I still often bump my forearms /hands and lower legs / feet into objects pretty frequently.

I'm not sure it's necessarily autism related, in my case at least. I also have a connective tissue disorder, and I think that's more a cause of my poor proprioception, though I really can't say for sure.
Maybe they both contribute to make it really bad?
I don't know, but I think "poor" as a descriptor is a bit of an understatement in my case.

To try to put it into technical terms, if my fingers are styluses and the rest of my body is a touchscreen, the calibration is way off. About 2 cm too high.