English: Abstract: Control of upright balance, or postural control, is critical for daily life and independence across the lifespan. Lack of control in this task can lead to instability and fall accidents, which cost £2 billion a year or £6 million a day to the NHS. In order to maintain postural stability, the human body relies on sensory information from visual, vestibular and proprioceptive channels. This information is integrated, with each channel weighted depending on its relative reliability, in order to produce corrective muscle responses to maintain postural control. This 'sensory reweighting' process is affected by age and is also affected by lifelong developmental disorders like ASD. Is there a way to compensate for these balance deficits? Our work on age-related decline in this process suggests that older adults partly overcome these deficits using adaptive compensatory strategies developed over the lifespan, namely muscle co-contraction and the use of cognitive resources. In contrast, little is known about the origins of the balance deficits observed in ASD and about possible compensatory strategies or ways to improve balance in this group. In this talk I will present our work on sensory integration deficits and compensatory strategies in healthy ageing, and using the same approach I will present new evidence on postural control deficits in ASD. In the end I will discuss the common and distinct features of balance in the two groups and I will outline possible strategies that can be used to improve balance in ASD.