I have two adult sons with autism; one has Aspergers the other has High Functioning Autism. Neither one of them looks at people, but they hear everything everyone says. They both carry on conversations when the topic is one they are interested in. A few years ago I was talking to my son with High Functioning Autism, he told me he never looks at people in the eye. I hadn't realized he was aware of that. There is nothing wrong with telling those you communicate with that you don't look at people in the eye, but you are listening & you hear everything they say. Let them know you hear & listen better when you are not looking directly at them. It's ok to let others know you have autism. Educate them. There isn't anything wrong with autism, as a matter of fact, there are many wonderful things that can come of it. It's like two people that speak different languages. To communicate, they must teach each other their language & eventually communication & understanding comes.