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Do you do the Aspie Stare?

Mr Faramoose said:
a bit off topic but I get told i look at people for too long or too little and if i'm nervous i do little facial things, like licking my lips when i try to remember something, very noticeable ticks if you will but not like tourettes, just little things you do without realising
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I've had people tell me I looked at them for too long, too...or that I didn't make any eye contact at all, depending on the situation. :) I know how frustrating that can be. :)
 
For photos, I can smile though I don't always remember to so someone yells over for me to smile. Normally I have a blank face and I have to try and remember to smile unless something is unbearably funny then I can smile. Sometimes I also stare someone down by accident too like if I get to be thinking about something and I happen to be staring at someone.
 
I do unusually well in front of a camera. Most people compliment me on my smile. But when we had a group family photo done years ago, everyone commented on how my father (who I believe is also on the spectrum) and I kept the exact same expression with every shot.
 
Yes! I just can't smile in photos if my life depended on it! People are always telling me that i look so serious in photos, even when I think i'm trying to smile. It can be really annoying, having to take photos heaps of times over just so people can get one where I'm smiling "properly."
 
I do it all the time. I'm pretty good at pulling a face if I'm expecting the picture, but if someone catches me off guard they tell me I look like I'm going to murder someone.

People cannot read my emotions at all because of it. People at work are always telling me to smile because I look like a robot. It gets really irritating. I just tell them I'm there to do my job, not look pleasant for other people.
 
I smile in most photos, I've been trained to though from an early age. I remember being a little kid and having this enormous forced cheesy grin on my face in every single picture! If anybody catches me not posing for pictures I tend to go full on aspie stare though, there's a brilliant photo that's my fella's phone wallpaper of me in front of my laptop completely lost in my own world; I had no idea he'd taken the picture until about 3 hours later!
 
I definitely do the Aspie stare! I get pretty intense, too. People don't really comment on it, because I think a lot of them are scared of me on some level. Can't blame them; I've been getting that my whole life! :) Let 'em be scared!

I figured out how to pose for photos when I saw some pictures of myself as a kid, and noticed I looked miserable. My mom is also a non-smiler in photos, and I noticed that, too. So at some point, I practiced my "photo smile". I've also trained myself to reflexively smile and nod at people.
 
I do. I find fake smiling very difficult. This is partially a social anxiety issue, but, I think, also a sensory one. Often, when I think I'm smiling, it'll appear to others that I'm just keeping a straight face. It's as though my facial muscles are under-sensitive.
 
Icarus75 said:
Often, when I think I'm smiling, it'll appear to others that I'm just keeping a straight face. It's as though my facial muscles are under-sensitive.
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That's exactly the same with me. If I was going to smile in such a way that people would know I was smiling, I'd make my cheeks ache and feel like I was over-doing it.

The other thing I do, which bothers me more, is stare at people. If I find the slightest thing interesting or attractive or strange about them - even the crinkle of their nose, or a mark on their blouse - it's as if I become engrossed in it. People notice and I end up feeling like a letch.
 
I smile,but I have to hide my gap between my teeth,so i usually repress the smile,and do more of a dramatic thing. So,no,I dont really to the aspie stare when it comes to pictures. In real life I do quite often.
 
When I'm off in my own world, depending on whether my world is particularly happy or sad, I may have a hard look and I keep that until my thoughts turn happy, or I have a stoner-smile, according to some of the people I know.
In photos, I tend to force a smile, it sucks.
 
xrobertxdavisx said:
haha yes, I'm still getting used to this touch screen keyboard
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suuure blame it on the keyboard. :-P


I'm the same way honestly. In MOST of my pics you'll rarely see me smile. I've been that way for as long as I can remember.. I"m always getting comments like "you should smile more" or "smile, would ya?"

I'm with Droopy. When I force myself to smile, it looks goofy, fake or even forced. I hate it.

NOW, there are times when I DO smile and it's genuine, and you can tell by the look in my eyes. Even when I'm not getting my pic taken, I don't really smile.


Though, here lately...I've been talking to someone from AC who's....shall we say, captured my attention? When we txt or talk on fb, I'll find myself smiling. Hell, even right now just THINKING about her is making me smile.

She knows who she is. She's truly been a blessing. WITHOUT a doubt an Angel (heck, she's so purty she could even pass for one!).


I thank you. You have brought light into my life once again. :)


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My sister and I both have this problem. She cannot fake smile at all. Literally cannot. Mine look forced and feel so wrong. Our other sister can, no problem.
 
I believe I do it, a lot. Also after some time of discussion I often realize I've had the same facial expression for last four minutes.

Friend told me she does this, and I quote:" :) -> 8) " Got me laughing hard. Maybe it's some kind of aspie stare also.
 
I bought my Easter dress today and scared the living shiz out of the cashier because she was trying to be funny "keep hanger no hanger keep hanger no hanger" super fast.
I'm one of those "do you have a staring problem" people.
 
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I've done the stare a lot in my life. I would have to force myself to smile for class photos and as I got older I would just try to remember something I found funny and think of it while they were taking the photo. I've gotten a lot better and I can smile reasonably well for photos (at least I think), although I don't like to show my teeth because I'm embarrassed of them.

I do the stare all the time outside of photos and only really smile when I find something truly funny. When I was a child I had no idea how to laugh properly so I would do some weird, obnoxious fake laugh whenever others were laughing because I didn't know how to laugh naturally at something. That's gone away now, though. I remember the first movie I ever saw was Aladdin in theaters and I was pretty bored up until the Genie showed up. I laughed so hard at it but I did it in a way I'm sure annoyed others around me. I noticed the laughing when I was younger and tried to just smile instead of laugh when others did and I did not find whatever was supposed to be funny funny. I don't think I developed a sense of humor until I was a teenager, before then I rarely laughed at anything that was supposed to be comedic.
 
Can't smile on cue/eyecontact properly/smile for the camera at all.

It's weird since even on the rare times I could be super happy, you might hear/see me LAUGH but smiling? I guess it just comes off as kind of plastic even if it's genuine? I've heard I have a blank or angry looking expression all the time too.
 
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