Some studies suggest that Autistic individuals may avoid eye contact because it overstimulates the part of the brain that processes fear and emotion.
I sometimes have eye contact with people I am familiar with. I generally avoid eye contact unless I make a conscious effort to look in someones eyes. It makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable. I am not sure why.
I don't give eye contact because it gives me a strange feeling of uncomfortability and gives me thoughts that I should look away. I can give eye contact but only if I force myself.
Plus I cannot see the point in it, since I don't get anything from it. As far as I am concerned it adds nothing to the communication. I would much rather look at their mouth since it doesn't produce odd feelings and I can tell what they are saying better.
I only make eye contact with people for job interviews and briefly with strangers in a conversation just to "appear polite". Even people in my family, I do not need eye contact with them. People I know less well, I will look at their mouth to "appear polite" and to "show that I am listening". - actually looking at their face has nothing to do with whether I really am being polite and listening to them.
Eye contact just freaks me out. -But I am good at conquering my fears.
Because we don't give a damn. That's my explanation.
Actually, when I try to keep focus on one thing, whether it be the eyes or something else, for too long, I feel awkward and feel that I need to stare at something else for a few seconds. To at least imitate eye contact, I constantly switch between the features of the face. When I have to give a long explanation about something, I don't stare at the person at all. If I keep my instinct mind unconscious about the fact that a human is staring at me, it is easier for me to concentrate on what I'm saying.
When I was little, people would keep telling me to look at them. Annoyed, I would bring up my gaze (usually I stared at something on the desk/table/thing right in front of me) for a few seconds, then drop it again. Sometimes, when I'm giving an explanation, the other person (usually a teacher or social worker) might interrupt and say, "Look at me while you're speaking, please." Then I lose my train of thought and get angry because I was thrown off.
I don't see what is so important about eye contact. It's just so distracting, and breaks my chain of thought.
Agreed! I hate when people keep pushing you to make eye contact. I always felt like telling them )but I didn't) that I didn't want to look at them because they were ugly, or I didn't like them.
Nowadays I do look more at people when theyre speaking to me than before, but once i start speaking my eyes fly all over the place except the person im talking to.
Yeah the other day i was talking to a friend over my queries abt my diagnosis, although i didnt tell her what it was, and I asked her to guess for herself what it could possibly be. she went trhough the list of stuff (dyslexia, dyspraxia etc, she herself is very dyslexic and has huge hypersensitivities) and she said "You definitely don't have Aspergers"
which is fine considering that i am the one having doubts myself but... well she has a bit of a stereotyped definition
to her aspergers is
--- very smart
--- very good in science and maths usually
--- some are good in art, but few
--- usually very poor in language
--- either they are very trusting or they dont trust anyone at all
I just feel hugely uncomfortable msking eye contact. I'd get as much pleasure staring at the sun.
I agree with Zed. I have two dogs, and staring is definitely aggressive.
Well, not every Aspie has poor eye contact, some have staring problems.
I've never understood this business of "seeing emotion" in eyes. I just see eyes. I get how you can see emotion by the way the muscles around the eyes change and make people look sad, happy, angry etc, but not the eyes themselves.
Still, looking into people's eyes does make me uncomfortable and I feel weird doing it. I don't really make eye contact with people in conversation, only sometimes for the 1st second or so, to establish that I am going to talk to them/I'm going to listen to them talk. After we've started I might look between their eyes, at the floor or just about anywhere else. I can't do it for long, I don't know why.
I cannot control naturally have to think about it too much.
I cant nutrally do it either i have to think but when i get in trouble my step dad yells in my face and he wants me to look into his eyes and so i think real hard and i do but when he's done yelling his head off he asks me what he said and i cant say because i was focusing on looking into his eyes. 
Then he yells at me again for not listening.
For me eye contact rips my focus away from inside my head and leaves me feeling paralysed and unable to think.
One thing to much to concentrate on, I think. 4 inches of water is enough for drowning. Eyes are much deeper.
That is such a profound statement 
I make eye contact to people who appear friendly and those who don't appear friendly..well..I don't want to look at you anyway.
Yes, that's exactly what I think too.
i usually don't make direct eye contact for long periods of time, even to my friends or family. it's just too threating to me if i look at a person's eyes for a long period of time (like longer than 5 seconds at a time) like they are staring me down. and just looking at the eyes does nothing for me...i usually get the emotional connection based on some other body part, and sitting down with them for a few hours, not by looking at my eyes. when i speak, my eyes tend to move all around, as i feel i need to stimulate my eyes with something diffrent, otherwise i'll get scared by looking at one thing for extended periods. it helps me when i'm talking, as if i was looking at one thing the whole time, i'll lose my thoughts as i would start concerating too much on the thing i'm looking at.
my family is okay with me not making eye contact, we don't do it too much. and in fact, in eastern cultures, eye contact is disgrouaged. eye contact i think is ovrerrated.
my family is okay with me not making eye contact, we don't do it too much. and in fact, in eastern cultures, eye contact is discouraged. eye contact i think is overrated.
Absolutely! As far as I'm concerned, it's not natural. Other animals don't do prolonged eye contact, except as a threat.
(Sometimes if I'm forced to make eye contact with someone, I feel like they're stabbing me in the eyes. Like some kind of imagined pain. Anyone else find that?)
Animals don't like us to stare them in the eyes so that certainly gives weight to the comment that it's not natural for creatures to make a lot of eye contact.