Note For Anyone Writing About Me

Guide to Writing About Me

I am an Autistic person,not a person with autism. I am also not Aspergers. The diagnosis isn't even in the DSM anymore, and yes, I agree with the consolidation of all autistic spectrum stuff under one umbrella. I have other issues with the DSM.

I don't like Autism Speaks. I'm Disabled, not differently abled, and I am an Autistic activist. Self-advocate is true, but incomplete.

Citing My Posts

MLA: Zisk, Alyssa Hillary. "Post Title." Yes, That Too. Day Month Year of post. Web. Day Month Year of retrieval.

APA: Zisk, A. H. (Year Month Day of post.) Post Title. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://yesthattoo.blogspot.com/post-specific-URL.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Why Yes, I DO Flap My Hands. Deal With It.

I am autistic. I flap my hands. A lot. Happy flaps, excited flaps, ARGH-BAD-GET-IT-AWAY-FROM-ME-NOW flaps, can’t think of the word I want flaps, stressed flaps, and they are all different. Pretty much the only thing I don’t have a hand-flap for is boredom. With the exception of the excited flap, I can usually control them, but often choose not to. Just because the folk who aren’t themselves autistic don’t understand, doesn’t mean it’s bad, and flapping doesn’t hurt anyone. I have bigger fish to fry, especially since flapping helps me regulate the not good reasons that I flap and enhances the yes good reasons that I flap. FLAPPITY FLAPPITY FLAP.

4 comments:

  1. Me too! And I spin. I. Love. To. Spin!

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  2. My flap for boredom: elbow on my pillow, wrist in the air swinging horizontally.

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  3. I'm lucky, in that my stimming usually comes in the form of tapping my feet. I can do it all day and nobody notices! I don't get dirty or weird looks for it! It's very comforting to be able to do what I need to do, but that's because it's something that neurotypical people also do (though less than I do). I wish everyone on the spectrum had that, and it shouldn't have to be because it fits into a "normal" activity.

    My other stimming is pacing. That was a problem in college. My roommates *hated* it, and I never had the money for a single room. They'd say I should go outside and take a walk, and I never was able to make them understand that while I like taking walks, it does *not* fulfill the same function as pacing. (Also, this was Iowa in the winter time. Do I want to go out and take a walk in 0F weather? No, I do not!)

    Sometimes I snap, too, but again that fits into the whole "normal" thing so a lot of people don't notice.

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  4. I've never been diagnosed with autism but I often wonder if I might be on the spectrum. My biggest stim is that when I realize I'm alone (when I go into the basement or get out of the shower usually) I will often have a combination of flapping my hands and making panicked-laughing-shrieking noises that I can't describe all that well. When I get mad I twitch and clench my toes. Sometimes if I'm laying in bed or sitting on the couch I'll raise my arm and just hold it in the air for a really long time, like I'm waiting to get called on in class. This is the only stim my boyfriend has seen from me, and so he doesn't believe my when I tell him I flap my hands.

    ReplyDelete

I reserve the right to delete comments for personal attacks, derailing, dangerous comparisons, bigotry, and generally not wanting my blog to be a platform for certain things.