I Can’t Look You In The Eye……

This phrase can mean so many different things. When I first saw the cover of the book I thought the boy did not want to look someone in the eye but was being told by his parent to do so. “…this was something that people would say to the child…” Telling someone to “look me in the eye” can also mean a level of honesty, that a person can tell how genuine someone is by whether they can look you in the eye or not. This is not true in the case of the book, for someone with Asperger’s it is difficult to look others in the eye, it has nothing to do with how genuine that person is, or there capability to be honest or not. “I imagined someone telling an autistic person to look them in the eye…I was already aware that its difficult” I was not aware of the difficulty until I read this book about John Elder Robison . I am really glad that I did because sometimes it is taken as a lack of interest or that as someone doesn’t want to talk to you when they don’t look you in the eye, when actually they can’t.

http://www.umasswiki.com/wiki/Class:COM352_-_Group_Dynamics_-_Spring_2008/course_outlines_and_in-class_activities/eighth_day_of_class/Test#look_me_in_the_eye

1 comment March 31, 2008