Development and Assymetry – 4.09am Tuesday February 10th 2026

Development and Assymetry – 4.09am Tuesday February 10th 2026

For a long time now I’ve been looking at the prevalence of assymetry in people. 

It isn’t something that’s necessarily immediately apparent, but I have noticed it in many different people with a variety of different developmental disabilities.

In Rett Syndrome, I discovered that quite a number of people had this feature, myself included and that my eye with astigmatism is on the same side that a number of other features, like my tremor for instance, is much more prevalent on the same side as the astigmatism.

So I’ve wondered about it quite a bit over the years. When I see someone, with even a mild disability, I always look to see if their face has a noticeable assymetric feature. Whether a slightly lower eyebrow to the other, anything that shows this activity in their development and I’ve found that it’s really very prevalent.

When I have noticed any facial assymetry in someone without a disability, there is always something unique that sets them apart, whether it’s a special skill in one of the sciences, or writing, acting, philosophy and more. 

So I thought I would make mention of it, it’s something that occurs when you are still forming and is an uneven development which can be minor through to severe. It may cause a leg to be slightly shorter for instance and the person needs their shoe built up, it may be a little or a lot and something they’ll always need to accommodate.

I have wondered though, in Rett Syndrome, where there is assymetry, is it common for their Rett features to be more severe on the same side? I’m not in a position to know, but if any families read this and would like to send me a note if they notice this, it would be helpful to know if it is indeed more often this way.

Fiona MacLeod (C)