Tackle It Tuesday: Eye Contact

Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday, a social media series where an autistic employee at AAoM (yours truly) writes workplace tips to better cope with the stresses of a working world not built for neurodiversity.

While creating the latest entry for AAoM’s social platforms, I realized that social media alone isn’t the ideal archive for all the past Tackle It Tuesday entries, as it shares space with all the other important work AAoM does. So, this blog companion was born!


This Tackle It Tuesday relates to eye contact. Well, when to use it and when to not worry about it.

Autism At Work: Eye ContactThe most important part of eye contact isn't even the eyes. It's the whole head. Pointing your head at the person you're speaking to is 75% of the work. If you can direct your eyes to the person's face, even if it's looking at different facial features that aren't the eyes, you can fake eye contact. There's nothing wrong with briefly breaking eye contact to look at a wall or something else in the room.

Autism at Work: Eye Contact If you're in a meeting with multiple people, especially if you have a notepad or a computer, you can get away with less eye contact. The big thing is to face the person you're talking to when they start talking. If your eyes drift, most people aren't going to notice.

Autism at work: Eye Contact Eye contact is weird. Neurotypical people, particularly those in the workplace, place great important on looking people in the eye. It gives the impression that you're listening to them, even if listening is easier for you when you're not looking for them. You can escape the awkwardness of this situation by saying it's not your strong suit: you're still listening to them even if you're not looking directly at their face. Most people would just assume it's a quirk of your personality and nothing more, which will save you a lot of grief if you can't disclosed your autism to your coworkers.

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