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Aspergers and Depth Perception

sakirkist

sakirkist

Member
I was wondering how many people on here have depth perception problems? When I was a small child, I asked my mom what was the difference between 2D and 3D? She told me 2D looked like looking at TV, and 3D was like looking at things in real life. I didn't understand because they look the same to me.

This caused difficulty playing sports when I was younger but now it mostly affects my driving. I judge on the side of caution, particularly when making left turns and at night the problem is compounded because the headlights bother me. I can see 3D movies the way they were intended, though. I guess because it is "artificial" and I don't have to rely on my true sense.

Is all of this true for you, if you have this issue?
 
I'm not sure if it's Asperger's. There might be some underlying condition. I've always had this issue and also with imagining things in 3D, which made it a little difficult when I had my technical drafting classes. I had trauma to my temporal lobes and frontal lobe when I was born. And then some issue with frontal lobe when I was around 9-10. I may have perception issues (size and distance) when I have a migraine.when I took topamax my perception improved and I could actually imagine things in 3D better.
I've never heard of this symptom as being a part of Asperger's, but maybe there some people on the spectrum who have it as well.
 
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I have never had good vision, but it can be corrected. Adequate depth perception is not something I have. My eyes were crossed as a child and exercises and patches did very little. My mother refused surgery. Thanks, Mom. I have mixed dominance--I am right handed and left eyed. When I park I do it intellectually, and by formula. After I have very slowly and carefully parallel parked, my front end looks like it is slightly inside the trunk of the car ahead of me. I am totally unable to see optical illusions. I have other quirky problems and do believe it is all part of a non normal brain.
 
I can "see" that things are this or that distance away, but it wasn't always so.
 
My depth perception seems ok in the daytime, but definitely declines to an extent at night.

Probably age-related more than anything.
 
I have bad depth perception and have had bad DP all of my life. I have never thought about it being related to AS. Maybe this thread will show a trend.
 
I'm the same as Judge in that my depth perception is worse at night, but I think that's generally true of everyone. I sometimes wonder if my depth perception suffers as a result of my nonverbal learning disorder, as I seem to have a lot of trouble judging distance and speed while driving.
 
I have rather terrible depth perception. This affected me the most as a teenager learning to drive, causing me much anxiety. I've had quite a lot of practice now, but take precautions others may find "silly" such as going around the block rather than taking a risky turn because I have problems judging when it is safe to go.
 
I don't normally have issues with depth perception, but I do feel pretty uneasy if someone wants to high-five me, as I'm afraid I'll miss haha.
 
Jess said:
I've had quite a lot of practice now, but take precautions others may find "silly" such as going around the block rather than taking a risky turn because I have problems judging when it is safe to go.
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Yes, I do the same thing. I will drive to a light to make a left turn whenever possible, because I just don't trust my judgement. It drives my husband and daughter nuts because I'm the only licensed driver in the house. I tell them either deal with it, or get a license! :p
 
sakirkist said:
Yes, I do the same thing. I will drive to a light to make a left turn whenever possible, because I just don't trust my judgement. It drives my husband and daughter nuts because I'm the only licensed driver in the house. I tell them either deal with it, or get a license! :p
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Haha, I love it!! The left turn thing is exactly me. I'll drive miles out of my way to make several right turns rather than one left. Turning left at a green light without an arrow is my own personal hell! I can see the cars coming towards me but can't tell if I can make a gap or not, while looking in the rearview mirror to see the cars lining up behind me wanting to turn left, and I'm thinking about how they're probably all mad at me... nervous breakdown!! lol
 
I have major problems with depth perception as well.. I couldn't pass drivers ed in high school and have been terrified to try driving since. I wonder if it really is related to autism.
 
My depth perception is definitely not good. I can't judge distances for crap, and driving takes some serious cognitive work and a lot of anxiety. The more I do it, the easier it is, but I HAVE to wear my glasses to see these things. Now, if I'm sparring in martial arts classes, I have to take my glasses off, and this changes all perception...everything goes 2D, or close to it. I've learned to cope, but it still takes a minute or two to adjust. Probably explains why I get hit with stuff I usually deflect easily with my glasses on....
 
I have very poor depth perception, but think that it has more to do with age that it has to do with Asperger's. I just do not remember it being this bad when I was a young adult.
 
I've never had any problems with depth perception. I have astigmatism in both eyes, so that makes night driving more of a challenge because of street lights and the like.

I don't know about other countries, but in the UK you are supposed to inform the DVLA (driver and vehicle licensing agency) if you have had a diagnosis of ASD. I'm in the middle of filling out the form at the moment. They have an exhaustive list of conditions on their site and whether you have to inform them, and I looked up some of my other diagnoses and they mostly say like speak to your GP and see what they say. Mt GP has said I don't need to tell them about my GAD or OCD, unless the obsessions about killing myself while driving come back. She said she doesn't believe I need to inform them about the tourettes as I don't have any tics other than in my face (for the time being at least). The ASD section on the DVLA site says that you must inform them immediately though, and I'd prefer to that than risk a £1000 fine.
 
With me, you'll get a similarly self-selected reply of 'yes, to an extent' as with most who will reply.

I don't have issues with depth-perception per se. Only when I'm driving at night and it's really dark, when I have to judge an approaching car's speed only by the headlights and little else (e.g. when turning), I need a couple of seconds.

A couple of seconds doesn't sound like much, but apparently it's more than most people need, going by the impatient comments it tends to earn me from people riding with me. It seems that most just take one quick look and either go or know to wait within a split second under the same conditions.

However, I think that's partly due to recklessness on their part, not necessarily much better accuity, and just general smart-*rsedness.

My mental conception of 3D isn't a problem, I think, in that I don't have trouble rotating objects in my head.

I do see three-dimensionally, too, by now I'm wondering if others do so more acutely. Hard to say.
 
Lately, I've had a LOT of issues with depth and speed perception. Being almost 60 and having diabetes and high blood pressure doesn't help.
 
ive only very recently found out i have severe depth perception issues. ive done archery target shooting for years which mean shooting arrows from a known distance, hence an archer adjusts the sight to suit the know distance eg 20 yrds,,,25 yrds etc. i am very good at known distance shooting. but ive started whats called 3D targets which is simply shooting at rubber animal facimilies but the difference is that the distance must be judged by the archer for each shot. i was horrified in my first shoot at 3D because while all the other archers would simply dial in the judged distance and hit the target in the scoring zone, i would have no idea if the target was 10yrds away or 40yrds away.....and this equates to a difference of about 2 feet in height difference with my particular bow set up. while i could shoot a known distance accurately at any distance, the 3D shot would 9 times out of 10 either go over the top of the target or hit the ground simply because i had no idea of the distance so could not set my sight for that shot. this essentially eliminates me from competing in outdoor 3D competition, even tho i have the skill to shoot accurately when i am told the distance. note, in comp 3D archery, other competitors will not discuss what they judge the distance to be as they wont help other competitors make good shots. its very disheartening as i love archery but feel completely left out when the final scores are read out and im at the bottom of the score board. due to being aspi, i have very few social hobbies and this just breaks my heart to not be able to do this with people ive spent time getting to know. this is one of a few things aspies have trouble with. i often lay awake in bed and imagine im able to make the 3D shot and imagine im judging the distance like the other guys and gals, but on the day, im just lost.
 
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