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eye to eye contact - is it different looking at photographs compared to face to face?

Phased

I have just been on my local autism services website to seek out an autism support worker.

The people who fulfill this role are all shown in full face photos staring and smiling, I believe confidently, directly into the camera lens.

Speaking personally I found this a bit intimidating and I wondered whether this was just the stress of thinking about meeting one or whether it was caused by the eye to eye contact in their pictures.  I really couldn't tell although I did think "oh I hope that not that one" to start with.  Then I took a closer look when my eyes seemed to look at the photo differently and my opinion changed..." .

Combination of the 2 and sensory overload maybe?

When stressed even a friendly face can be just too much to deal with?

I have looked it up and academically it seems there are studies where autistic people might process static images of people differently to literally being face to face with them.

Just can't work it out myself at present and asking family at home would probably just confuse the heck out of things.

So I thought I'd ask how other people in this community would get on with this.

Comments anyone please?

Grinning   hehe - Smiley eyes open emoji, ah the irony...

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  • in reply to Damojo

    oh blimey - unti I spotted the wink emoticon I was worried you didn't think of yourself as  real  ?  oo - maybe I'm not either!!!Grimacing 

    (hehe that wink was hard to spot at a distance - maybe we should switch to opera!)

    I'm reminded of this:  "The phrase "Am I a man dreaming I'm a butterfly?" comes from a famous story by the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, who questioned whether he was a man who dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man."

  • in reply to Martin
    Martin said:
    I am aware that I'm doing it, it isn't subconscious

    I think that was a large part of my being "in the closet" about being Autistic for so long (over 20 years). I felt I was "normal", just a not very good at it. I never realised that the fact that I was so conscious of what I doing all the time was itself the real pointer to the fact I was Autistic. Real people aren't conscious of any of this stuff. Wink

  • in reply to Phased

    I do not count, but I have worked out when to make and break eye contact in a way that seems to make most allistic people comfortable. It is more a fly by the seat of the pants than a metronome system, but I am aware that I'm doing it, it isn't subconscious.

  • in reply to Martin

    i'm fascinated - do you count internally whilst doing so or is it a standard pause as it where in a musical performance?