I believe this is a first in our series. The songwriter of Your Woman, Jyoti Mishra (@Jyoti) is in the fediverse! Do say hi, especially if you like the song!
Danger Mouse is very present in this playlist. He’s a member Gnarls Barkley and Broken Bells. No, I don’t mean the cartoon character, but this guy:
My ex-wife was enamored with Lovefool by The Cardigans. My relationship to it was more muted. I loved the musicality of it, but I hated the notion that a woman was asking someone to pretend to love her.
I’ve been reading about “stimming in autism”, which up until now was very confusing to me mostly because that’s the one point kept being repeated in the community being a must for an autistic individual. And I can’t relate to that at all.
Then I came across something that describes the purpose of ‘stimming’ is to deal with extra energy. Then it kinda hit me, I’ve never had the need to stim because I’m a low energy person in general.
I get overwhelmed with activities when they involve raising heart rates (yes, THAT too). I like quiet things, dead of night etc. Once at a time in my life, I was pretty sure I could hear flow of electricity.
So my question to the #ActuallyAutistic community: do you think stimming is a must for autistic people? Do you relate to it? Anyone know of any low energy stimming that gets overlooked?
One reason why it took me so long to self-diagnose autism is that I thought I don't stim. In fact, once I learned that I do stim, my self-diagnosis process kicked in. That was the first time I said to myself that I might actually be autistic.
The reason for this misunderstanding was that I thought stimming is stereotypical, very repetitive, compulsory movement. I guess this misunderstanding is quite common.
I've since learned that stimming, short for self-stimulatory behavior, is basically stimulating one's sensory system in certain ways. It may be a way to soothe oneself, help to focus in overwhelming situations by feeding one's brain predictable sensory input, a way to express joy, or simply something that feels nice. Movements are part of it but any sense can be used.
When googling the term, there are mentions that also neurotypicals stim but that when diagnosing autism, stimming is somehow different -- only socially unacceptable stims are "real" stims. Bah.
I've started paying attention to how and when I stim, and collect a list of stims I do. I've noticed all types of stimming behavior (soothing, focusing, joy, fun). I do it more than before -- or maybe I just notice it more often. I've noticed that I love moving my body parts, especially to music. I also love different textures.
Those people who are convinced that #ADHD is just laziness and can be cured with chia seeds and mooning to the sun (or such stupidity), and who truly believe our medications don't work...
Before my diagnosis at 25, I could not stop chewing my nails. I hated doing it. It hurt my teeth. I tried to stop about 100 ways. Nothing worked.
Until I got my first dose of stimulant medication.
I stopped instantly. I have been chewing free for 5 years now.
Opinions on this YouTuber? I'm hearing a lot from him that feels very relevant to my recent #SelfDX as an #ActuallyAutistic person. This video is ringing bells for me too. There are things that I've always done, that are apparently #stimming ?
The Importance of Stimming for LATE Diagnosed Autistic People
I wanted to try this centrifuge attraction for a while, and yesterday finally did. It's pleasant so intensely that surely counts as #stimming, and I'm pretty sure I was grinning the whole time (and a few more whole I watched others fly as well).
It's quite close to paragliding but more extreme of course. Not a hint of nausea or vertigo, and I'm the one who gets car sick, GIF sick and can't tolerate any movement in my side vision. Yet there I'd happily stay far longer.
I've known I'm #autistic for a number of years now, #Selfdx, but this info has helped me significantly. However, just KNOWING you're autistic doesn't mean you can automatically "hack" your autism, & definitely not ignore it.
I require carefully curated routines to accomplish basic things. Hygiene, food intake, going to sleep at a reasonable hour, don't come naturally. I rely on numerous cues, which require work to maintain.
#ActuallyAutistic people: be nice to yourselves!!! Don't tell yourself you have to always be the most adaptable, flexible, permissive version of yourself you can muster. Your routines are an important part of your health. Your #SafeFoods are important & worth prioritizing when you're away. Your #stimming is necessary, it's a bodily function with a purpose & you need to make time & space to do it. Same with your #specialInterests. Give yourself the time you need to recover, even from fun things.
For Autistic people, interoceptive differences are common.
This can range from not knowing we need the toilet through to being unable to identify or articulate our emotions.
This means that we will often stim in a way that triggers our interoceptive sense. Our sensory seeking will try and trigger those feelings that interoception senses.
One of the biggest differences between #OCD, #TS, and #Autism is that the first two don't really do #stimming. It looks like we're doing it, but it's not calming us. If anything, it's making us MORE agitated or stressed. I'm nearly 48 yrs old, and I still don't know how to self-soothe. 😑
So proud of my #autistic daughter for going off to #Bristol#Pride today. She's been #stimming and squeaking with excitement and nerves since yesterday. It's completely out of her comfort zone, but she knows it will be busy and noisy, so expected chaos is OK 💖
Hoping everyone going has a wonderful time x 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
So, I've decided to get and try out some mouth stim toys because I've been smoking/vaping increasingly and I've theorized it's due to my AuDHD and needing something in my mouth.
I used to chew my nails but I stopped after putting on acrylic tips until I started biting the skin around my nails. I keep biting the inside of my cheek, which apparently is "a sign of mouth stimming" but I'm not sure how true that one is.
In my past, I smoked cigarettes but mainly did it socially and when I was overstimulated. I never got addicted to nicotine and was able to quit cold turkey and stick with smoking weed.
I bite the skin from my lips frequently even when it's not ready to come off. It's just so many signs of ways I fidget or stim using my mouth that I decided to try it out finally. I should be getting the ones pictured today and I got ones that look like feathers that will be here tomorrow in case the ones I get today feel awkward.
At first, I kind of felt weird about looking for this type of product because they're mainly geared towards children and it made me feel... less like an adult but in a bad way, if that makes sense. I just need to remember that even the studies of ADHD and Autism are geared towards children, not adults, and they mainly use research done on boys, not girls.
I'm kind of excited and hope that I'm right. I'd love to smoke less and have a lower tolerance again while smoking to have fun and be high, not just smoking to be doing something with my mouth.
Fingers crossed!
Update - Alt Text:
The picture is of 4 chew toys geared towards children with different patterns that would give each one its own unique feel when used.
@hastyunicorn@actuallyautistic I get that! I really do. I wish I had a job that afforded me the same kind of balance. Unfortunately, I work in an office with no privacy so relief with #stimming is not possible. This leaves me exhausted and crabby at the end of the day.
Recently bought a spinning ring to stim with. I have to get used to the feeling of something around my finger. But I also feel it's a good way to keep my hands busy. It keeps me grounded and it's better than scratching myself, which I tend to do when I get a bit anxious.
My 1 year old niece has discovered my spinning ring. She tapped it curiously, so I showed her how it works. I only had to spin it once before she knew exactly what to do with it. I fear she's gonna be asking to see my hands many more times.
P.S. #Stimming doesn’t just relieve stress, and ABAers aren’t “unwittingly” grooming kids for exploitation. #ActuallyAutistic and otherwise #Neurodivergent scholars, activists, and #ABA survivors have been saying #behaviorism violates #HumanRights and nonhuman #AnimalRights for decades. As Leonard Cohen said, “Everybody knows.”