Vision Problems --> Eye Contact

[Pinkie B]

After hanging out in the chat room the other day and totally bonding over how totally icky eye contact is (most of the time), I decided to see if I could find out why that's such a common issue to have.

I found this article: Why Kids With Autism May Avoid Eye Contact

It basically says that autistic children have more active peripheral than direct vision and that's why we're clumsy and get hit in the face with the ball all the time and also why as babies we don't focus on the eyes of our care givers. Then, the unconscious reaction is detest or disgust by our caregivers, which reinforces our social awkwardness.

I think this is a load of BS. For example, I video chat with my boyfriend since we're currently long distance and I still can't look him in the eye on my screen. But I have no problem at all looking him in the nose or the mouth. So why can my eyes focus on the nose right in front of my face but not the eyes right in front of my face?

I was wondering what other people had to say. Do you have trouble focusing on stuff right in front of you including people's eyes? Or are real live human eyeballs just a thing of their own? And why don't we have spectrum people who have symptoms of "lack of eyebrow contact"?

Pink

 

[AuBurney Tuckerson]

After hanging out in the chat room the other day and totally bonding over how totally icky eye contact is (most of the time), I decided to see if I could find out why that's such a common issue to have.

I found this article: Why Kids With Autism May Avoid Eye Contact

It basically says that autistic children have more active peripheral than direct vision and that's why we're clumsy and get hit in the face with the ball all the time and also why as babies we don't focus on the eyes of our care givers. Then, the unconscious reaction is detest or disgust by our caregivers, which reinforces our social awkwardness.

I think this is a load of BS. For example, I video chat with my boyfriend since we're currently long distance and I still can't look him in the eye on my screen. But I have no problem at all looking him in the nose or the mouth. So why can my eyes focus on the nose right in front of my face but not the eyes right in front of my face?

I was wondering what other people had to say. Do you have trouble focusing on stuff right in front of you including people's eyes? Or are real live human eyeballs just a thing of their own? And why don't we have spectrum people who have symptoms of "lack of eyebrow contact"?

Pink

I think it differs for other autistic people. Most of us cab only focus on small details instead od the while thing. As much as I try to focus on the whole part of my drawings, I only end up focusing on a small detail instead of the big picture.

 

[risootser]

The main issue here is that psychiatry is still partially in realm of pseudoscience. It entertains hypothesis but no enough empirical data.

Many people with ASD will not be in ASD if the whole concept of ASD still exists in the future. ASD is largely handwaving diagnosis for most people who need help. Actual Donald Trippletts are very rare.

If we look at symptoms then blind people should be further in ASD as it is a spectrum of symptoms. To me this makes very little sense. If a vision problem is a root cause and you have been scientifically put under ASD and not due to social help a strong sign of BS should be raised.

 

[Shenandoah]

My knee jerk reaction was to label this explanation as bs, but it got me thinking. There is definitely something wonky with my visual processing. A good example is looking for stuff in a fridge. I skim around everything there without registering the item I am looking for which is right in front of me. I have to tell myself "Milk", take a breath and then I find it. I can see everything, it's just not registering. Similar issue looking at a large computer screen, I have to deliberately scan it. Proof reading text is hard as well, once a word is out of a narrow central area, I don't register it well.
Seems to get worse with age.

Not buying the part about caregivers disgust.

 

[SDRSpark]

My knee jerk reaction was to label this explanation as bs, but it got me thinking. There is definitely something wonky with my visual processing. A good example is looking for stuff in a fridge. I skim around everything there without registering the item I am looking for which is right in front of me. I have to tell myself "Milk", take a breath and then I find it. I can see everything, it's just not registering. Similar issue looking at a large computer screen, I have to deliberately scan it. Proof reading text is hard as well, once a word is out of a narrow central area, I don't register it well.
Seems to get worse with age.

Not buying the part about caregivers disgust.

I have this too, though I suspect it has more to do with executive function or sensory overload than my eyes.

As far as my eyes go, I'm nearsighted, and have astigmatism. Neither of those things prevent me from focusing on someone's eyes...or this post that I'm writing right now.

 

[Shenandoah]

^ yes, as far as eye exams go there is nothing unusual with my eyes.