Autists naturally only make eye contact when they have a conflict.
To make a diagnosis, a psychologist looks at the eyes of the client. If he doesn’t make eye contact, the psychologist creates a conflict situation. Or allows the client to create a conflict situation.
During my research at the autism center, the psychologist could very easily have avoided the conflict by answering my questions. But she didn’t. Which made me irritated and I made eye contact.
That was als how the woman in the hot tub recognized me. When I got into the hot tub, the couple was kissing. I looked in their direction and the woman looked in my direction. But I didn’t make eye contact. But when I blamed her for her boyfriend’s behavior, I did make eye contact.
Parents can make this diagnosis just as easily. Many conflict situations arise during the upbringing of children. So if parents were aware of the differences between neurotypicals and autists, they would be able to recognize autism at a very early age. That could prevent a lot of problems.
There will probably also be methods for autistic people to recognize each other.
Can neurotypicals tell us if there is a difference between these two sentences?
Suppose someone says to you:
- Look there’s a birdcage in that tree
- Look in that tree there is a birdcage