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Do you miss seeing things that are right there in plain sight?

Skeletor

Skeletor

Well-Known Member
Once I had my glasses knocked off my face by a tree branch. I was walking and did not see this large tree at all. My vision is so bad without my glasses that my girlfriend had to find them for me. It wasn't like some small thing, it was a full grown TREE. And this happens all the time. I couldn't find a package of ham lunch meat in my fridge even though it was the only thing in one of the cabinets and said HAM in big letters on the package. Still took my dull brain more than a minute to register it. So annoying.
 
Sometimes, even if I do a slow scan with my eyes... doesn't really bother me any as it does happen from time to time, even with NTs
 
Walking along, looking down at the cracks in the pavement (sidewalk) or whatever, and don't even see the lamp post bang in front of me - ouch!!

If someone moves my coffee jar by even just a few centimeters, I spend the next 20 minutes looking for it.
 
Yeah, I have that issue a lot - especially if my mum asks me to go and get something and I can't find it yet she finds it in seconds.
Honestly, it reminds me of a Lee Evans joke from his 2002 Wembley show.

Women have their own place that no man even knows - this mysterious place called 'side'. It's true - you'll ask your wife "Where's my car keys?" and they'll say "on the side".

You: Looks around "What side?!"
Wife: Frustrated "Oh, on the side - on the side!"
You: Looking around again "There's 14 sides in here - which one is it?!

This is the bit I hate - they'll walk in and go "Oh blind!" Picks up the keys "On the side, look".​
 
Yes, particularly stuff at head height, must be a looking down thing. Situational awareness.
 
Well there's crashing into stuff because my mind is so preoccupied I don't see it.

And then there is overlooking stuff. Look all over for something, can't find it, come back later and there it is.

Perhaps it can be attributed to glitches in the matrix.
 
Skeletor said:
Once I had my glasses knocked off my face by a tree branch. I was walking and did not see this large tree at all. My vision is so bad without my glasses that my girlfriend had to find them for me. It wasn't like some small thing, it was a full grown TREE. And this happens all the time. I couldn't find a package of ham lunch meat in my fridge even though it was the only thing in one of the cabinets and said HAM in big letters on the package. Still took my dull brain more than a minute to register it. So annoying.
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This is so much like me I want to cry because I know I am not alone.

My brain only lets me see what I see, I can not see anything, no matter how bright, colorful, shiny or large. I think it must be autism. Years ago I had an autistic roommate who when he got home would ask if a package had arrived. To enter out home he had to walk past where the packages were, in a spot alone.
 
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I banged my head on a tree branch yesterday. Also scalded my hand a bit, and couldn't work out how to get over a stile. A normal day.
 
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It's interesting, because it's another one of those Bermuda triangle type autism effects that are hard to spot. Literally.
 
AGXStarseed said:
Yeah, I have that issue a lot - especially if my mum asks me to go and get something and I can't find it yet she finds it in seconds.
Honestly, it reminds me of a Lee Evans joke from his 2002 Wembley show.

Women have their own place that no man even knows - this mysterious place called 'side'. It's true - you'll ask your wife "Where's my car keys?" and they'll say "on the side".

You: Looks around "What side?!"
Wife: Frustrated "Oh, on the side - on the side!"
You: Looking around again "There's 14 sides in here - which one is it?!

This is the bit I hate - they'll walk in and go "Oh blind!" Picks up the keys "On the side, look".​
Click to expand...

You're probably referring to Neurotypical women here.
 
Guilty of this. It's like my eyes are on panoramic scan and l can't fine adjust to pick up the object directly in front of me. Like my eyes are fish eyes on either side of my head near my ears.
 
To everybody, my hypothesis for the cause of this:

1. People on the spectrum have poor short term memory. Things we did see can easily be forgotten within seconds.

2. Our hyperfocused minds. If I'm going over something for work in my head I can walk right into walls and never see them coming.

3. Sensory processing disorders are common in people like us. If I'm not concentrating on listening to someone it will often come out as gibberish, like the part of the brain that turns sound into meaning isn't engaged.

I think this annoying thing is a combo of all three.
 
grommet said:
This is so much like me I want to cry because I know I am not alone.

My brain only lets me see what I see, I can not see anything, no matter how bright, colorful, shiny or large. I think it must be autism. Years ago I had an autistic roommate who when he got home would ask if a package had arrived. To enter out home he had to walk past where the packages were, in a spot alone.
Click to expand...

Cue "You are not alone" by Michael Jackson.
 
The other week my mother mentioned how I notice little things that she usually doesn't and that I have an "artist's eye". She said my dad is like that, too.

An artist's eye. I wonder which one?:tonguewink:

But when someone *tells* me to look at something, it nearly always becomes invisible, and even when someone points at it I have trouble following the direction they're pointing at.
 
If I'm not paying attention,
or have two or three other things being processed at the same time, then yes.
I am capable of missing details.
 
SDRSpark said:
LOL yep. I'll be looking for something that's right in front of my face and I won't be able to find it.

My mother was the same way.
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That is exactly what it is like. It does not matter what it looks like, how large or obvious, my brain will not recognize no matter how hard I look. For a while I tried using Post-It notes on the walls to remind me of things but I could not see them. I have to leave an object in my way to make sure I notice it.

My same brain though will notice the tiniest things, too many to list. Recognizing metals by their surface pattern and color, being able to instantly recognize stainless steel and other alloys.

Watching a TV show I quickly spotted a new manilla rope on what was supposed to be an antique because I saw the fine threads sticking out on its surface and they would have been worn away on a used rope. It goes on and on. I see patterns, mistakes in manufacture, the slightest color changes. I almost always notice the heads of screws anywhere I go and whether they are damaged which I intuit means they were quickly/badly installed without a proper clutch setting on the power driver.

I cannot however see mail, food, notes, my wall calendar etcetera. Sigh.
 
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