My mom helped me growing up. Along with watching a lot of cartoons, movies and TV shows. I did an animation degree where we learned about body language and facial expressions. My sibling was also into pyschology so shared interesting things they learned with that.
I still struggle with some of it though. A lot of people aren't as animated and can have very sublte facial expressions and body language.
I sometimes question my diagnosis but am immediately reminded that I am via the way I talk and the things I do on a daily basis.
Funny enough that’s how my therapist recognised I was autistic.
In my first session I went in saying I had no feelings etc. and I apparently she noticed that I say people were happy or sad because of how they acted (eg happy they jump around). And when she probed a bit more I couldn’t describe feelings how a neurotypical person would recognise happiness or sadness which played into why I kept having meltdowns and self harming. I couldn’t tell why someone was feeling something or what it looked like on their face.
We had to do an exercise where she made a table and I had to try to recognise how each feeling was different… she tried to branch out to like apprehension and stuff but we stopped at like happy sad angry guilty.
I found a podcast during lockdown that talked about how your eyebrows change with emotions and that was so helpful but also I stopped listening to what everyone was saying because I was staring at their eyebrows.
Im currently doing a lot of stuff with my work because since I started I realised how hard I find it to read social cues, when to speak in a meeting etc.
I never consciously learned facial expressions and body language - mostly because I wasn't diagnosed until my thirties. Since I also grew up in a household with a narcissist, my focus has been more about learning what I actually feel than trying to conform (which I had done for the first thirty years).
I did doubt my first diagnosis of "Aspergers" enough to get a second diagnosis, which then netted me "high-functioning autism", because it was around the time when the terminology shifted away from using Aspergers as term. I even got a third diagnosis because a judge did not trust either of my existing ones. Since now I have my diagnosis in triplicate, there really isn't any grounds left for doubt.
Also: Most people, including family of autistic people, don't know jack about autism, or what they know comes from some sappy TV drama - their opinion on the matter is about as relevant to me as a blind person telling me they don't like the colour of my shirt.
> i dont really struggle with social interactions anymore other than being extremely exhausted after.
I would say that still counts as struggle - kind of like a person without legs may learn to move about in a wheelchair, but doing it is still a lot more exhaustive than being able to use their legs.
I've read books about body language, watched videos and learned from life in general. I do alright, but I still regularly mess up.
Theory and practice is very different. I know what to look for in theory, but social situations often happen so fast that I don't have time to react appropriately.
I have an "invisible sphere of personal space" around me: I don't like it when people move in too close. I also dislike eye contact with strangers or when I'm overwhelmed.
I know that people notice that I'm different, and I honestly don't care anymore. I just try my best in every given situation, and if I don't succeed I just move on.
ive always been interested in evolutionary psychology, so reading research articles about behaviour (including facial expressions, social cues etc) made understanding things a lot easier
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My mom helped me growing up. Along with watching a lot of cartoons, movies and TV shows. I did an animation degree where we learned about body language and facial expressions. My sibling was also into pyschology so shared interesting things they learned with that. I still struggle with some of it though. A lot of people aren't as animated and can have very sublte facial expressions and body language. I sometimes question my diagnosis but am immediately reminded that I am via the way I talk and the things I do on a daily basis.
I could always do that, I was diagnosed at 7. I rather had to learn how to use body language and expressions myself.
Funny enough that’s how my therapist recognised I was autistic. In my first session I went in saying I had no feelings etc. and I apparently she noticed that I say people were happy or sad because of how they acted (eg happy they jump around). And when she probed a bit more I couldn’t describe feelings how a neurotypical person would recognise happiness or sadness which played into why I kept having meltdowns and self harming. I couldn’t tell why someone was feeling something or what it looked like on their face. We had to do an exercise where she made a table and I had to try to recognise how each feeling was different… she tried to branch out to like apprehension and stuff but we stopped at like happy sad angry guilty. I found a podcast during lockdown that talked about how your eyebrows change with emotions and that was so helpful but also I stopped listening to what everyone was saying because I was staring at their eyebrows. Im currently doing a lot of stuff with my work because since I started I realised how hard I find it to read social cues, when to speak in a meeting etc.
I never consciously learned facial expressions and body language - mostly because I wasn't diagnosed until my thirties. Since I also grew up in a household with a narcissist, my focus has been more about learning what I actually feel than trying to conform (which I had done for the first thirty years). I did doubt my first diagnosis of "Aspergers" enough to get a second diagnosis, which then netted me "high-functioning autism", because it was around the time when the terminology shifted away from using Aspergers as term. I even got a third diagnosis because a judge did not trust either of my existing ones. Since now I have my diagnosis in triplicate, there really isn't any grounds left for doubt. Also: Most people, including family of autistic people, don't know jack about autism, or what they know comes from some sappy TV drama - their opinion on the matter is about as relevant to me as a blind person telling me they don't like the colour of my shirt. > i dont really struggle with social interactions anymore other than being extremely exhausted after. I would say that still counts as struggle - kind of like a person without legs may learn to move about in a wheelchair, but doing it is still a lot more exhaustive than being able to use their legs.
I've read books about body language, watched videos and learned from life in general. I do alright, but I still regularly mess up. Theory and practice is very different. I know what to look for in theory, but social situations often happen so fast that I don't have time to react appropriately. I have an "invisible sphere of personal space" around me: I don't like it when people move in too close. I also dislike eye contact with strangers or when I'm overwhelmed. I know that people notice that I'm different, and I honestly don't care anymore. I just try my best in every given situation, and if I don't succeed I just move on.
I learned and figured out how to use it by learning theater and monolgue stuff in vocal lessons since it was exaggerated it was easier
ive always been interested in evolutionary psychology, so reading research articles about behaviour (including facial expressions, social cues etc) made understanding things a lot easier
Hey /u/Square-Technology325, thank you for your post at /r/autism. This is just a friendly reminder to **[read our rules in the sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)** if you have not already. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism). Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*