Autism and Aging

[InfinityRose]

I've read awhile ago that looking young for your age is a trait of autism. I know this probably doesn't apply to all autistic people, but for a good amount of the auties/aspies I've met, (as well as for myself), there does seem to be at least a hint of truth to it.

I've also heard multiple theories for why this would be the case, but the one that interested me the most was that we have evolved to age slower than our NT peers because it helped us survive longer in the past. However, I've never found any scientific proof backing this claim up. So, has anyone else heard this claim, and if you have, do you know if there's any truth to it?

 

[Mia]

I've looked around for actual research on the subject, and have found nothing so far. That's not to say that a study might not be done in the future or is ongoing. Personal experience has shown me that people that I do know who have autism, do look younger than they actually are. Although that may not be true for all aspies/auties, male or female. Perhaps our brains keep us younger or provide some other associated advantage.

 

[clg114]

I've read awhile ago that looking young for your age is a trait of autism. I know this probably doesn't apply to all autistic people, but for a good amount of the auties/aspies I've met, (as well as for myself), there does seem to be at least a hint of truth to it.

I've also heard multiple theories for why this would be the case, but the one that interested me the most was that we have evolved to age slower than our NT peers because it helped us survive longer in the past. However, I've never found any scientific proof backing this claim up. So, has anyone else heard this claim, and if you have, do you know if there's any truth to it?

I have heard that also. I do not know many autistic people (1), so I could not say from experience. As for myself, I am 72 and have been told that before. I still have a full head of hair and is not very grey. I have been told that I look 20 yr. younger than I am. However, it seems to me that younger people think that someone in their seventies should be bald, blind and in a wheelchair. That just is not how it is. A lot of us, including me, are still working.

 

[Progster]

I've been told that I look young for my age, too.

 

[Gracey]

I'm sat here thinking,
'Don't reply, don't reply"

I am 48, I appear closer to bus pass age (in UK, official retirement age)
I am not being hard on myself, it's fact. (Owing to comments made in conversation from strangers)

I don't colour my hair to disguise any grey or use any expensive lotions and potions.
I do smoke cigarettes which will help my skins aging process.

That said, I appeared old enough to buy my first drink in a pub at the age of 13 (UK law is 18 to buy alcohol)

Throughout much of my life ... And from what I can remember ... Strangers presumed I was older than I actually was and so gave me responsibilities (which I accepted) suitable for someone much older than me.

I'm informed I was 'clean and dry' (toilet training) at the age of 18months
I would insist on being more independent than my peers with things like dressing, opening car doors to enter, bathing and so on at the same age.
My Nan used to call me an old soul. It's only now I understand what she meant.

I have to wonder if always being treated as 'older' means I think 'older' and therefore act and look older (if I don't go into things like genetics and dietry effects)
?

 

[pjcnet]

I've personally never heard this debated before, but it's certainly very interesting.

I'm 48 years old and have been told that I look around 40 despite smoking for 30 years and having a number of health issues which makes me feel more like someone 20 years older or more, I am however beginning to show some wrinkles. When I was around 18 however I was told I looked in my early to mid 20s and I've never had to show any ID when buying alcohol, but there has been a clamp down in the UK to help prevent underage drinking in more recent years which means that many shops/bars now have a strict policy to ask people for ID even if the person looks under 25 so they can be fairly certain they're over 18. This policy is often clearly advertised with posters so it's less likely to cause people any offence.

 

[Streetwise]

I think it's just part of the developmental disorder ,facial features just don't develop the same .I look in my 40s but I still have the facial features of a developmental disorder to a degree ,the same as people with downs syndrome have different facial features .
I looked much more typically autistic before I lost too much weight and my kidneys didn't work as well.

 

[Suzanne]

When I arrived the age of 13, I could not quite grasp that I was a teenager and I looked a lot younger too.

When I was 19, despite showing my birth certificate, the barman, refused to let me have a drink and even said that I could easily have stolen the certificate from someone else. My boyfriend and his friends, very kindly said they would not drink there and the next one we went to, I was told to sit down and wait til drinks arrived.

I was about 17, when an elderly woman started lecturing me on how disgusting it was that I was not in school and when she stopped for breath, I asked how old she thought I was? Well, you are obviously about 13 year's old and I groaned and said: actually I am 17 and left school already. She was so mortified and said how sorry she was and I said she was not to feel bad; in fact I felt shame I looked so young!

I was in my 30's when I approached a lady to order a catalogue and she said: I am so sorry, but you must be over 18 to apply and at that point, I burst into laughter and her face was a picture when I told her my age!

I am now 48 and saw a candid photo of me. Actually, it was a couple of others who the picture was for, but I happen to be in the background and did a double take! I looked 20 in it and still amazed.

I do have a few lines now, but some say they are hardly noticable and I do have some white hair, but due to being a redhead, they are really not very noticable and it fascinates me, because the white that comes out, when I comb my hair, is thicker than my usual hair and I have a little chuckle and think: if I get to that stage of needing to dye my hair ( vanity sake) then I will have the thick hair I have always wanted.

So, yes, I do not seem to be catching up with my age at all and embarrassed no longer: loving looking younger.

 

[pjcnet]

When I arrived the age of 13, I could not quite grasp that I was a teenager and I looked a lot younger too.

When I was 19, despite showing my birth certificate, the barman, refused to let me have a drink and even said that I could easily have stolen the certificate from someone else. My boyfriend and his friends, very kindly said they would not drink there and the next one we went to, I was told to sit down and wait til drinks arrived.

I was about 17, when an elderly woman started lecturing me on how disgusting it was that I was not in school and when she stopped for breath, I asked how old she thought I was? Well, you are obviously about 13 year's old and I groaned and said: actually I am 17 and left school already. She was so mortified and said how sorry she was and I said she was not to feel bad; in fact I felt shame I looked so young!

I was in my 30's when I approached a lady to order a catalogue and she said: I am so sorry, but you must be over 18 to apply and at that point, I burst into laughter and her face was a picture when I told her my age!

I am now 48 and saw a candid photo of me. Actually, it was a couple of others who the picture was for, but I happen to be in the background and did a double take! I looked 20 in it and still amazed.

I do have a few lines now, but some say they are hardly noticable and I do have some white hair, but due to being a redhead, they are really not very noticable and it fascinates me, because the white that comes out, when I comb my hair, is thicker than my usual hair and I have a little chuckle and think: if I get to that stage of needing to dye my hair ( vanity sake) then I will have the thick hair I have always wanted.

So, yes, I do not seem to be catching up with my age at all and embarrassed no longer: loving looking younger.

Are you quite petite? Sometimes smaller people who are often also quite thin look younger and when they're young adults they can sometimes even be mistaken for children. I remember when I did a bar job in my late teens and I worked with a woman in her early 40s, she was small and petite and looked like she was in her early 20s, I actually quite fancied her at the time lol and couldn't quite believe it when she told me how old she really was, but it was true as it was confirmed by many other people, she wasn't autistic however which shows it can happen whether autistic or not, but whether it is more common with autistic people is debatable.

Edit:
I remember another example of a woman who looked around 20 years younger when she was in her early 40s at an office job. She was also fairly small and petite, but not as small as the woman in the example above. She was however a health and fitness fanatic, she was always exercising, swimming and going to the gym while being on a very strict and controlled diet, I even remember her drinking a strange vinegar drink every day which she said was healthy. Apart from being pretty obsessed with health and fitness she didn't have any autistic traits, but in her case looking much younger wasn't just luck alone.

 

[Suzanne]

Are you quite petite? Sometimes smaller people who are often also quite thin look younger and when they're young adults they can sometimes even be mistaken for children. I remember when I did a bar job in my late teens and I worked with a woman in her early 40s, she was small and petite and looked like she was in her early 20s, I actually quite fancied her at the time lol and couldn't quite believe it when she told me how old she really was, but it was true as it was confirmed by many other people, she wasn't autistic however which shows it can happen whether autistic or not, but whether it is more common with autistic people is debatable.

I am 5ft4ins. I do not think I am petit, but my hubby is close to 6ft and if he was being kind to me, he might refer me to being petit.

But I do not think size equals looking one age or not, because there are quite a few French women who are small and they do look their age.

 

[Streetwise]

Are you quite petite? Sometimes smaller people who are often also quite thin look younger and when they're young adults they can sometimes even be mistaken for children. I remember when I did a bar job in my late teens and I worked with a woman in her early 40s, she was small and petite and looked like she was in her early 20s, I actually quite fancied her at the time lol and couldn't quite believe it when she told me how old she really was, but it was true as it was confirmed by many other people, she wasn't autistic however which shows it can happen whether autistic or not, but whether it is more common with autistic people is debatable.

Edit:
I remember another example of a woman who looked around 20 years younger when she was in her early 40s at an office job. She was also fairly small and petite, but not as small as the woman in the example above. She was however a health and fitness fanatic, she was always exercising, swimming and going to the gym while being on a very strict and controlled diet, I even remember her drinking a strange vinegar drink every day which she said was healthy. Apart from being pretty obsessed with health and fitness she didn't have any autistic traits, but in her case looking much younger wasn't just luck alone.

she was probably drinking apple cider vinegar it's very good for digestion

 

[CyborgSpaceKitten]

I am 29, and often get mistaken for being 18-22. I'm really not sure why. When I was younger I was mistaken as older than my age, but I think that was due to my height. I'm 6'2 now, and was about 5'10 by 5th grade. But yeah, everyone ALWAYS thinks I look about 10 years younger than I am. I'm not complaining.

 

[Mr Allen]

I'm sat here thinking,
'Don't reply, don't reply"

I am 48, I appear closer to bus pass age (in UK, official retirement age)
I am not being hard on myself, it's fact. (Owing to comments made in conversation from strangers)

I don't colour my hair to disguise any grey or use any expensive lotions and potions.
I do smoke cigarettes which will help my skins aging process.

That said, I appeared old enough to buy my first drink in a pub at the age of 13 (UK law is 18 to buy alcohol)

Throughout much of my life ... And from what I can remember ... Strangers presumed I was older than I actually was and so gave me responsibilities (which I accepted) suitable for someone much older than me.

I'm informed I was 'clean and dry' (toilet training) at the age of 18months
I would insist on being more independent than my peers with things like dressing, opening car doors to enter, bathing and so on at the same age.
My Nan used to call me an old soul. It's only now I understand what she meant.

I have to wonder if always being treated as 'older' means I think 'older' and therefore act and look older (if I don't go into things like genetics and dietry effects)
?

Nothing wrong with that, I'm about 6 years your junior and have had a Bus pass for years.

Mind you it's a disabled pass, not an OAP one.

 

[Gritches]

I've looked about 18 since I was 12 (I'm 27). As early as last year, someone asked me what grade I was in. People asking for ID usually look pretty hard at the ID, the picture, and back up at me a few times, like they're trying to figure out if it's fake or something.

 

[Mr Allen]

I've looked about 18 since I was 12 (I'm 27). As early as last year, someone asked me what grade I was in. People asking for ID usually look pretty hard at the ID, the picture, and back up at me a few times, like they're trying to figure out if it's fake or something.

The whole ID card thing is a total farce IMO, even if you look a bit under 25 and show them ID, they should still use common sense and see that you're clearly over 21.

Last October I was in Tesco buying a bottle of Whisky for Dad, I got questioned about my age even though I was 40, and I definitely look over 18, the minimum UK age to buy Booze! Also the woman on the till actually knew me from when I did my work placement from College 20 years previous, so she knew I was over 18 because I was just turned 21 when I left College in July 1997.

 

[Judge]

I've looked about 18 since I was 12 (I'm 27). As early as last year, someone asked me what grade I was in. People asking for ID usually look pretty hard at the ID, the picture, and back up at me a few times, like they're trying to figure out if it's fake or something.

There's a method to the madness. Altered drivers licenses are apparently back en vogue again despite elaborate printing processes. Easy way to trip someone up is to test them on their alleged age. Funny to think I still recall how some of the criminal justice majors used to offer their services in altering the kids' drivers licenses. Though back then some bouncers just didn't look hard enough or care.

Me? I always looked older than I actually was. I've never been carded for liquor in my life! Go figure.

However these days even if you are around 40 years of age it may well be policy to routinely check regardless, such as Walmart does. It's another means for a business to control the cost of their legal liquor liability coverage with insurers asserting more aggressive policies with customers who want to purchase liquor.

Whether it really makes a difference may be questionable. I see law enforcement here in Nevada routinely use minors to solicit illegal liquor sales, and someone always gets caught. It never ends here. And the results are always published through the media. So such controls seem to get ever tighter.

 

[Adora]

I’m 35 and still get mistaken for someone younger,only last year when I went to the bottle shop to get my husband some drinks the lady asked me for my photo ID but I never thought looking younger could be part of the spectrum but it’s possible,my brother is 40 years old and on the spectrum and he looks younger so maybe there is some truth about it.

 

[NateSean]

I don't know if Asperger's plays a part in my incredibly youthful and rugged good looks, or if it's just the frequent consumption of the souls of my enemies.

I could go either way.

 

[OlLiE]

i've always been irresistibly good looking ;-)
seriously though, couldn't care less how my looks age, more interested in the consequences of ageing on my mind

 

[Drakanav]

Almost 17, 5'2, but actually look around 11-12, I wear no makeup, no earrings, ponytail, baggy clothing, large eyes, small nose and small mouth.

My dad is almost 50, but he looks like he's 30, and without his beard, he'll look like 20.