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12:26pm July 22, 2014

realsocialskills:

Anonymous said to realsocialskills:
is it common for autistic people to over-emote when talking? (i.e. making cartoon-like faces, moving hips a lot.) if not, is there a specific word for people who tend to do that?
realsocialskills said:
   
I do that, and I know other autistic people who do as well. I think it’s common.
   
I don’t think it’s over-emoting though. It’s just body language. The fact that neurotypical people usually move less doesn’t mean their amount of physical reacion is right and ours is excessive.
   
It’s just different.
 
I don’t know of a word for that kind of body language. Do any of y’all?

I’ve met a lot of people with cerebral palsy who do it too.  I often wonder if it’s something people do when they’ve had to learn the motions really really carefully.

Notes:
  1. saxifraga-x-urbium reblogged this from realsocialskills and added:
    A man at an employment agency once told me I smiled too much and that it made me look unprofessional.
  2. studyofperspective reblogged this from realsocialskills
  3. tumblunni reblogged this from realsocialskills
  4. rokuro-archive reblogged this from dykeclouds
  5. dykeclouds reblogged this from bulldaggers
  6. mmmyoursquid said: The word would be “animated”.
  7. rlyjustasensitiveautist reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    It may also be a mimicking of learned facial expressions - an autistic person who watches a lot of anime, for instance,...
  8. jonesinforjosie answered: expressive?
  9. withasmoothroundstone reblogged this from realsocialskills and added:
    I’ve met a lot of people with cerebral palsy who do it too. I often wonder if it’s something people do when they’ve had...
  10. witchyautisticweirdo said: I just thibk it’s sort of…exaggerated body movement? I know a few auties who do it
  11. sparkleplatypus answered: I don’t know of a word for it, but for me I see the influence coming from animation and puppets, where over-emoting is necessary.
  12. pixieorsomething answered: “emphatic”? I don’t know, but I do it too. Part of the reason I thought I couldn’t be autistic for a while, bc stereotypes.