Over the years, my social interacting skills have significantly improved thanks to the wonderful provision that I have been privileged to receive from various competent skillful carers in the past. I have continually succeeded on several occasions to maintain good eye contact with the majority of individuals I am speaking to face to face whilst in conversation.
However, I have found speaking and sustaining eye contact with large groups of people problematic at times. This I believe on my part is due to a lack of self-confidence. In time, I trust that this will improve by continuing to train on the art and foundations of conversation and maintaining good eye contact.
It is easy to understand why certain people would become aggravated with a lack of eye contact during a mutual conversation. It seems as if the listener is disinterested with what is being said. Greater awareness and more education on the symptoms and social implications of Autism and of its many different forms could feasibly lessen these misunderstandings. With improved acceptance, the self-confidence of individuals with autism could begin to improve.
I believe that the key to sustaining good eye contact in conversation is to have both self-motivational and people skills.
If we took the time to listen and acknowledge what the other individual is saying and focus on what it is that is being spoken instead of, in a better term, day dreaming, then eye contact may come naturally. It is all about one’s self-confidence and acceptance of themselves both individually and within the general public. If you are relaxed, patient and focused, then it will come effortlessly and eye contact will happen without even thinking about it.
Do not try to force it, but let it happen instinctively and the results will come.
About Thomas Hewitt
