People who aren't ND find it distracting or annoying. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me kid-me to stop fidgeting / squirming / clicking / tapping / popping my lips / rubbing my pants leg / whatever , I could buy an island and retire to it.
@melindrea @ScottSoCal I find repetitive sounds & motions extremely distracting, & they can trigger a fight or flight response not unlike my response to claustrophobic situations. I regret buying my bf a clicky fidget toy several times a day π
I can't stand ticking clocks. Someone foot tapping at the edge of my vision makes me feel physically sick.
I will put up with them for as long as I can and if I can remove myself from the situation I will. But sometimes I just have to ask people to stop.
@melindrea @ScottSoCal I suspect a not insignificant number of NTs/allistics are at the very least distracted, if not driven to an extreme reaction, by repetitive motions & sounds. But as they don't recognise stima as something a person needs to do, they're just assholes about it, rather than compromising.
@ScottSoCal My question then is, really (to society, not you, to be clear!): is it distracting or are you just weirded out by people not being just another brick in the wall?
Though I do get how pen-clicking, noticeable tapping of fingers and other "louder" stims can be distracting ... especially since if someone is clicking a pen it will often break through my concentration.
(I was lucky in that a lot of my stimming was stuff my mom did, so while I never realised it was stimming--or that I was autistic--I did have outlets that were accepted by most people around me).