7th
January
2008
Sensory Stuff for Me
posted in Autistic Life, Me |
This was inspired by a thread on one of the boards I go to talking about wierd quirks/sensory issues in adults. The weird things that you don’t really tell people, but affect your life.
Let’s just say that ds comes by his sensory issues honestly.
- Texture, texture, texture. All of my clothes are felt before they are really looked at. There is many a beautiful outfit I won’t even put on because the material feels hellish to me. Yarn is the same way.
- Food must be eaten off of white or off-white dishes. They can have things on the edges, but the part where the food goes must be white.
- Coffee mugs must be white on the inside. I might cope with a solid light color, but I can’t drink out of a mug that is dark on the inside because I can’t tell if it is really clean.
- Bare feet on carpet & socks on carpet. The feel/sound makes my teeth hurt. I wear shoes all the time.
- One window down in the car. You must have the opposite window also down, the same distance, or my ears will start popping.
- Tight shoes. I can not stand shoes that pinch or are tight at all. I have wide feet, so this is a real problem.
- Socks must be perfectly matched (feeling wise…cheap socks sometimes have one tighter, or one a tad longer, ect), on straight, with either no seams or minimal seams.
- Polyester makes me cringe. Some of the newer nylons are tolerable, but I still can’t wait to get home and get changed into cotton. The worst thing is those staticy, clingy, polyester pajamas. Ugh, those are terrible.
- Bras. I really dislike bras. I never wear one at home. I hate getting sweaty in my entire bra area, with or without a bra, but with a bra in actually painful for me. (I am too big to go without a bra in public…about a C cup)
- There are times I can’t stand hair in my face. I wear my hair long so that it can be totally pulled out of my face when I am in that mood. (and wear scarves a lot to keep stray hair from flying around)
- I am a picker. I never met a zit, scab, ingrown hair, or weird puslike lump I didn’t like. I have a really hard time leaving something like that alone. really, really hard time.
- I hate sitting in a way that allows somebody to come up behind me. I want to be against a wall looking out.
- I don’t like super cold foods. I have to wait until my ice cream melts before I can eat it.
- Popsicles drive me batty…besides the cold factor, they drip and the sound people make eating them makes me crazy.
- I can not STAND the sound of ice being chewed. It makes me want to puke.
- Florescent bulbs. HATE them. They buzz, they give me a headache and I can see them flicker. I will never change my home lights to those new “energy efficient” bulbs. I have to deal with them whenever I go out, when I am home, I want light that doesn’t make me feel homicidal.
- Midi music. I can stand it for a while on some video games if I am playing it, but the old midi files when you open a web page are the reason I never have the sound on my computer. (I always have my headphones plugged in)
- The feel of lotion on me before it has soaked in. That rubbery feeling almost makes me itch as bad as dry skin. It is better in a few minutes though.
- I love it when the wind is really strong. (as long as it isn’t too cold) It feels like you are flying, makes you feel strong and powerful. I love it. Feel it often here in Kansas. lol.
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on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 3:34 AM and is filed under Autistic Life, Me.
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/spit coffee @ pussy lump!
good grief are you my long lost older sister? LOL I hate midi music (I can tune out on vid games too) and will close out a window instantly and not care about what I was going to look at or just keep my volume low, florescent lights like in grocery stores and malls are the reason why I often feel sooo tired once I get home, my eyes are dry and heavy, my brain is shut down and my body says sleep now. I’m constantly picking away (it’s like a destresser) at skin, despise very cold drinks or ice in the drink. I had to put away Rhi’s poly jammies that she had gotten last year after a while b/c I just couldn’t stand to even touch them to get them out of the drawer. OTOH I always want a bra on b/c I don’t like the sweat build up underneath the girls w/o it, LOL! And I’m often barefoot. Anyways yeah I’d been mulling it over the past few weeks on my own, here I’ve always thought I just had a laundry list of odd stuff about me, I didn’t realize there were so many things I did/felt that matched with typical sensory issue stuff. Then put me and Dh together and well considering genetics the possible likely hood of having a child somewhere on the spectrum makes sense. It’s not just Kieran who has his things, the other two boys have been in and out of a few of their own sensory things. Donovan went through a chewing on his shirt phase, and then switched to hair, then finally stopped, he often will strip at least his pants off when he gets home from school; Liam freaks out in a heartbeat if he does not like the feeling of the clothing material on him – I mean, he shrieks. Same with turtlenecks, even if cotton. It’s small, deal-able stuff, but definitely noticeable.
I love this list. I mean, I don’t like that things bother you, but it’s a great list. I am also all about textures. One of the things that does me in are the pens with the rubber grippy. I HATE the feel of the rubber on them. I also hate emory boards. Yikes!
It is amazing how few people ever stop to think about their own sensory issues. I have always had my own but I never thought much of it until I read years ago that more than 40% of children with ASD have parents who present Autistic tendencies while not actually being Autistic. Then I stopped to think…I have always had these “quirks” and social deficits yet I am not autistic and these days I can’t turn around without hearing someone swear that autism can’t be separated from the child without changing everything about the child. It just makes me wonder why we think our kids are so much different just because they are “more”.
Um, yeah. I meant puss as in the gross icky, but interesting, stuff inside an infection. Not cat, or um, the other thing. I can’t figure out how to spell it correctly so I changed the word slightly so it doesn’t have the unintended, but hilarious meaning. *must have somebody proofread in the future* lol
I’m with you on fluorescents. DH thinks I’m crazy, but I’m seriously thinking of stocking up on incandescents before they are phased out. Hopefully, the industry will come up with a better alternative so I don’t have to devote a closet to light bulbs that don’t give me a headache!
I share 11 of the items on your list with you. Hmmm… I’ve never thought about them as sensory issues before. Interesting.
I came here by way of the MDC Mamas blogring. I don’t feel so bad anymore about my sensory issues after reading your list. I share a bunch of them with you, also. And wouldn’t you know it, that my oldest DS also has many sensory issues himself. I guess the apples don’t fall too far from the tree, do they?
I was also reading your blog about the candidates and I agree. Ron Paul is almost as bad as Huckabee, IMO. They both have nice guy demeanors that hide how they really feel about the “issues.” I don’t think Paul has a chance, though. I’m more worried about Huckabee sneaking in and getting the GOP nomination.