I'm #autistic. The sound of the train blowing its horn as it passes my house makes me cover my ears in pain. But the throbbing bass of the engine that causes a deep pressure in my chest from the vibration makes me feel happy.
When I was a kid, I used to crank up the bass of my parents' stereo and sit directly against the woofer to feel that pressure. They would always yell at me to turn it down. I've always loved that feeling.
@hosford42 I am the opposite. I cannot handle the bass beat, because it does not match my heart rate, and causes distress. The thumping is also distressing. I loved train whistles. I love truck air horns. I am #Autistic.@actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
@Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity You aren't joking about being the opposite! Truck air horns...nope!
It's cool that you can sense your own heart rate. Sometimes I can hear it from the blood rushing in my ears, or even see it from my retinas shifting slightly from the pressure, but I can never feel it unless I just exercised really really hard.
@Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity I wonder how common it is for NTs to see their heartbeat in their eyes. I feel like that's a thing that they might find really weird because they tend to filter out tiny perceptual changes like that. Sometimes I wonder just how differently we experience the same universe. I feel like NTs live in a cartoonified version of reality where only the most salient details are preserved, while autistic folks have life under a microscope checking out the fine details, which can distract us from the big picture stuff.
@hosford42 @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity i see my heartbeat in my eyesβ¦always have. Is that not normal???
Most people don't, if that's what you're asking.
@ScottSoCal @johnettesnuggs @hosford42 @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
Visually, I filter even more than NTs. I struggle to notice things I don't expect to see. I guess I'm either hypo-visual or hyper-filtery!
My visuals come pre-packaged as objects - I don't consciously assemble them from micro-details in the way many #ActuallyAutistic folks describe + luckily don't overload from complex visuals (though motion/flicker/brightness destroy me).
Q: what % are oblivious Vs hyper visual?
@FrightenedRat @ScottSoCal @johnettesnuggs @hosford42 @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity I'm visually oblivious. I frequently completely fail to notice things I don't know to look for, and I can't find things if I don't know where to look for them. I have trouble switching back and forth between pictures and text so in social media posts with both usually only one or the others registers, and I don't absorb graphic novels/comics with more than the most basic line drawings well.
@estellechauvelin @ScottSoCal @johnettesnuggs @hosford42 @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
Ooh - it's interesting that you have difficulty with graphic novels/comics - I can't manage them either!
When I say this I get accused of snobbery, but the effort I need to put into extracting info from them makes me stressed & exhausted. I simply don't know where to look - especially if the speech bubbles jump about.
& in video games I'm awful at tracking both the mini-map + the main content.
@FrightenedRat @estellechauvelin @ScottSoCal @johnettesnuggs @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity Hmm... This brings up an interesting point for me. If it's a task that's highly familiar, I'm bad ass at it. But if it's the first go, I usually suck extra. It's like my brain is laying down new wiring specially tailored to the task, and in the mean time I'm garbage. For stuff I've programmed myself to do efficiently, I've been quizzed as to how on earth I do it so quickly and precisely, because I hit speeds that are double-digit multiples of their own. If only I could pull that kind of performance out of the box...
I'm running into:
A task I've done a lot before, and I'm really good at it, but someone else changed things. What I used to do doesn't work anymore, and what I now have to do doesn't make sense. And there are parts of it I can't do - no access - so I have to rely on other people, and their ability to get it right.
I'm just about climbing the walls with frustration.
@FrightenedRat @estellechauvelin @johnettesnuggs @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
@ScottSoCal @hosford42 @FrightenedRat @estellechauvelin @johnettesnuggs @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
Sounds too familiar. A tool that worked for me and has for years was taken away and replaced with a cheaper, prettier, substandard tool that won't do at least six things I need it to do. And of course, this is my problem, not theirs.
I'm lucky in that I was able to change at least a few things, by calling a meeting and starting out "We're in violation of contract because this new thing..."
People pay attention then, and they stop arguing.
@hosford42 @FrightenedRat @estellechauvelin @johnettesnuggs @Tooden @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity
