@AutisticAdam@actuallyautistic
My eye contact experience is less painful than yours, but mine also is unhelpful. I learned at a young age that I could "look at the teacher's eyes" while she or he was talking, or I could listen to what the teacher was saying, but not both. Funny, teachers always got upset when I asked which eye or if I was to switch looking at from one eye to the next and if that then how often, each time I blink? Eventually I learned I could gaze at the speaker's left eyebrow and lull into a meditative rest and learn nothing during the lesson. Now, I look at someone's eyes as I begin to speak and just before I blink, then quite often I stare into my empty left palm as though I am remembering a checklist of what needs to be said.