This is always what makes me a little unsure of if I have autism. Cause I have very little trouble understanding a person’s feeling from their facial expression. Admittedly I am self-diagnosed, but I also know it’s a spectrum so there’s gotta be a few outliers who don’t struggle with this, right?
fwiw i felt the same way and yet when i went in for a diagnosis we all realized the testing was basically just a formality after a few minutes of talking.
I think it’s what used to be called aspergers, that general kind of autism where you’re ostensibly normally functional but you just work a bit differently. For me it’s like half of the symptoms are pretty subtle but persistent (like being into technical stuff and good at learning stuff i enjoy) and the other half are the stereotypically autistic “dysfunctions” that only appear sometimes (mostly when i’m stressed).
Honestly, I think neurotypicals put too much emphasis on facial expression. I can read facial expressions fine most of the time, yeah, but rarely does someone accurately read my facial expression.
People either assume I’m upset (because I’m not actively attempting to emote, such as when I’m thinking about something), or assume I’m happy (because I’m masking - in which case I may look happy, but that doesn’t mean I feel happy.)
Considering that “resting bitch face” has become a known cultural phenomenon, I’m tempted to argue that neurotypicals have as much trouble reading faces as they claim we do. The difference is, if they’re wrong they either don’t recognize it, or double-down because obvs you’re lying for some reason. (You’re autistic after all, they clearly know how you’re feeling better than you do. /s)
Ha yeah I got that resting bitch face too. When I’m feeling just fine I look like someone just kicked my shin with dogpoop-smeared boots. Agree we put way too much emphasis on facial expressions.
This is always what makes me a little unsure of if I have autism. Cause I have very little trouble understanding a person’s feeling from their facial expression. Admittedly I am self-diagnosed, but I also know it’s a spectrum so there’s gotta be a few outliers who don’t struggle with this, right?
fwiw i felt the same way and yet when i went in for a diagnosis we all realized the testing was basically just a formality after a few minutes of talking.
I think it’s what used to be called aspergers, that general kind of autism where you’re ostensibly normally functional but you just work a bit differently. For me it’s like half of the symptoms are pretty subtle but persistent (like being into technical stuff and good at learning stuff i enjoy) and the other half are the stereotypically autistic “dysfunctions” that only appear sometimes (mostly when i’m stressed).
Honestly, I think neurotypicals put too much emphasis on facial expression. I can read facial expressions fine most of the time, yeah, but rarely does someone accurately read my facial expression.
People either assume I’m upset (because I’m not actively attempting to emote, such as when I’m thinking about something), or assume I’m happy (because I’m masking - in which case I may look happy, but that doesn’t mean I feel happy.)
Considering that “resting bitch face” has become a known cultural phenomenon, I’m tempted to argue that neurotypicals have as much trouble reading faces as they claim we do. The difference is, if they’re wrong they either don’t recognize it, or double-down because obvs you’re lying for some reason. (You’re autistic after all, they clearly know how you’re feeling better than you do. /s)
Ha yeah I got that resting bitch face too. When I’m feeling just fine I look like someone just kicked my shin with dogpoop-smeared boots. Agree we put way too much emphasis on facial expressions.
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