Autism: Why Eye Contact is Difficult

Autism is known as a complex developmental disability. It usually presents itself during the first three years of a person's life. The condition is the result of a neurological disorder that has an effect on normal brain function, affecting development of the person's communication and social interaction skills.

Autism is a wide- spectrum disorder. This means that no two people with autism will have exactly the same symptoms. As well as experiencing very varying combinations of symptoms, some people will have mild symptoms while others will have severe ones.

We know from research  there are abnormalities in both the structure and function of the brains of individuals with autism. We know that children with ASD often inspect objects and people in an unusual way with their peripheral vision. It seems that there are neurological reasons for lack of eye contact and individuals with autism.

During the past few years there have been a number of adults having autism who have begun writing about their experiences whether it be through a keyboard or a letter board. When a person uses a letter board, they write each word letter by letter spelling it out. Through these writings we have learned to better understand the world through the eyes and mind of an autistic individual.

Historically, when autistic children enter the school system, they are subjected to Adaptive Behavioral Analysis (ABA); a system that requires them to repeat the same task over and over and over again. Is assumed that these children are developmentally disabled and cognitively impaired so they don't understand what's going on. That couldn't be further from the truth.

A 13-year-old Japanese boy with autism wrote and published a book in 2007 that was translated in 2013. The title of the book is ,The reason I jump: the inner voice of a 13-year-old boy with autism.  In his book, Naoki Higashida, wrote one letter at a time using a letter board. In it he answers simple questions that people asked about autism.  When he was asked, “Why don't you make eye contact when you're talking?” He said he resented all the times he was told to look people in the eye for him he couldn't do it; it made him too uncomfortable. He shared that he was actually looking at the other person's voice. Voices may not be visible things, but were trying to listen to the other person with all of our sense organs. What bothered him for a long time is the idea people have that keeping eye contact while people are talking to us means we’re having communication. This is so not true!

 Ido Kadar published the book, Ido in autism land: climbing out of autism silent prison when he was 15 years old. Like Naoki, he wrote the entire 166 page book using a letter board, one letter at a time.  When he was 12, he wrote the following, “Eye contact is hard because the light reflecting off the eyes is not calming. It's hard to explain because I'm not aware that I don't look at people until someone tells me to look at them. It's a strange habit. I can listen better if I don't look at the person. I can look, but it's not pleasant. ABA had me look in people's eyes with the timer. It was so tortuous; I did it, but with terrible anxiety.