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Understanding Movement and Behavior
Self-Portrait
Seth Chwast
My Life is a Puzzle
Anna McBride
Stimming
by Aven
Sometimes stimming is a refuelling, like a hummingbird finding nectar after a journey over an ocean, movement reaching out through your body and nourishing it, quenching a thirst.
Sometimes stimming is a focusing, a balancing between two chasms, and sometimes a grounding, a compass returning you to your body, pointing you to your path.
Sometimes stimming is a fizz of joy, emotion spilling out as a flap, a spin, a jump, the body’s way of laughing, the body’s voice.
Sometimes stimming is a sanctuary, a rest from the pinpricking world, an oasis of peace in a sandstorm.
Sometimes stimming is a song with two voices, mind and body joined by a golden thread, a warm sea of sensation.
What's Your Squawkers McCaw? Creative Workplace Accommodations - Bev Harp
Learn more about the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) here.
"When I hold Squakers, he turns down the noise. Without this bird, I am more inclined to make my own animal sounds or to leave the room unexpectedly, in the middle of a conversation. Further stressed and parrotless, I may bite my hand or even bang my head on the table. These are not the things that get you a second interview"
"Why do you do things when you shouldn’t even when you’ve been told a million times not to?
When the chance comes once more, we’ve pretty much forgotten about the last time and we just get carried away yet again.”
-Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
(Higashida, 2016, p. 14)
"People with autism react physically to feelings of happiness and sadness. So when something happens that affects me emotionally, my body seizes up as if struck by lightning….So by jumping up and down, it’s as if i’m shaking loose the ropes that are typing up my body.”
-Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
(Higashida, 2016, p. 47-8)
"Why do you move your arms and legs about in that awkward way?
For me, i have no clear sensation of where my arms and legs are attached, or how to make them do what i’m telling them to do. It’s as if my limbs are a mermaid's rubbery tail.”
-Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
(Higashida, 2016, p. 52)
Autism, autistic stimming - My five most common stims
by Autistictic
Check out Autistictic's blog here!
"Becoming an openly autistic person when everyone around you knows you as “normal” is a lot more difficult than I had anticipated to be honest. I am not strong enough to deal with the negativity and the judgement. Yet I am also not strong enough for passing anymore. It is a rather horrible cycle I am trapped in...To survive I am holding on tightly to my finger stims which are barely visible to others and allow me to self-regulate at least to the point of making the world bearable. And I am letting it all out as soon as the door closes behind me when I get back home."
-Autistictic, Stim Toys – A Stimming Update on YouTube
“That is, not only do I behave oddly and not interact when people need me to create a bridge so they can behave in an appropriate way to me, but also if there is not absolute certainty and a lack of ambient sound, I can’t sequence. So places like supermarkets or even the street require a one-on-one companion.”
-Lucy Blackman, "Reflections on Language", in Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone
(Blackman, 2005, p. 154)
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