Hand flapping.

[Knower of nothing]

Just hit the top bit of my nail against a sharp corner again for the nth time thanks to hand flapping so I was curious how many here have it too and if it ever hurts them like this.
Other classic events include spraining my wrist a bit, or getting a finger flung in my eye. Despite all this, since the action is associated with experiencing positive excitement I don't feel too bad about it. Sure is embarrassing though.

 

[Outdated]

I pace a lot, when I'm doing this my mind is far away and I'm not really watching where I'm going. Barked shins on the coffee table and bruised shoulders from missing the doorway.

 

[Rodafina]

I do have some harmful stims that I’m working on, but my happy/neutral stims leave me with a risk of carpal tunnel syndrome just from doing the same motion too often.

Sure is embarrassing though.

Imagine if we all got together and let our stims free all at once. It would be the most beautiful circus on earth!

 

[Outdated]

Imagine if we all got together and let our stims free all at once. It would be the most beautiful circus on earth!

A very quiet circus, all lost in our own little worlds and happy not speaking.

 

[Rodafina]

A very quiet circus, all lost in our own little worlds and happy not speaking.

Definitely no speaking, but I don’t think I’ve been able to share all of my vocal stims over the forum! You guys might hear me if I was recklessly relaxed.

 

[Rodafina]

A very quiet circus, all lost in our own little worlds and happy not speaking.

This is how I imagine the circus.

@Knower of nothing, I promise I’m done. I won’t hijack your thread with my dreams of an autism forums circus.

 

[Luca]

I don't think I've ever flapped my hands, but I have some other habits that I didn't realize were stims (pacing, playing with my hair, needing to wear jewelry, sitting with my legs crossed.)

 

[foliodoe]

I like to clap my hands and wiggle my fingers. I like kicking the air too! I've hurt myself a few times this way lol

 

[foliodoe]

I don't think I've ever flapped my hands, but I have some other habits that I didn't realize were stims (pacing, playing with my hair, needing to wear jewelry, sitting with my legs crossed.)

Whoa, I had no idea that some of those things might be considered a stim... It puts my whole life into perspective

 

[Judge]

Pacing and swaying, yes. Hand-flapping? Nope...never.

It's all good. Stim your hearts out, peeps!

 

[Jordy]

I pace a lot, when I'm doing this my mind is far away and I'm not really watching where I'm going. Barked shins on the coffee table and bruised shoulders from missing the doorway.

I also pace

 

[Darkkin]

I have a big yoga ball I bounce on. I walk the dog a lot, or if I'm stuck in one spot, I bounce my toes off the ground to crack them. If I have my headphones in I keep time to the music marking a 3/4 count.

 

[grommet]

I do have some harmful stims that I’m working on, but my happy/neutral stims leave me with a risk of carpal tunnel syndrome just from doing the same motion too often.


Imagine if we all got together and let our stims free all at once. It would be the most beautiful circus on earth!

I used to go to in-person autism meetings, it was great. Everybody really was themselves and no one stared at anything or commented. The only real freedom I have ever seen.

 

[grommet]

A very quiet circus, all lost in our own little worlds and happy not speaking.

At the autism meetings I used to go to there was a man I sat next to for several years and he never spoke. I did not think he could speak but years later I saw a documentary about autism and he was one of the people interviewed and he spoke.

 

[grommet]

Definitely no speaking, but I don’t think I’ve been able to share all of my vocal stims over the forum! You guys might hear me if I was recklessly relaxed.

I can be very loud. I try never to let it happen around other people but I think it would make people uncomfortable. The sounds I make sometimes hurt my ears if I am close too something when I make them.

Only a couple of times have I let it happen in public, once at a job but no one was around and heard it. I have no idea how I control it. Maybe I do. When I am around other people I put on a character like a jacket I would put on. When I step out I start acting like another person. Maybe that is why when I come home I sometimes seem to panic for a few minutes, it all seems to come out at once, what was built up.

I cannot speak in public unless I pretend to be someone else, if I am myself, the words get stuck in my brain and I cannot speak, not for any reason. It can feel scary not being able to communicate.

Only in autism meetings was I able to be myself. I remember feeling it the first time I was in the room for the meeting. It was the most wonderful feeling. It was like being in air for the first time, being real, being myself on earth. I think that sounds hyperbolic and silly but it really felt like that for me. I felt like for the first time in my life I was really there instead of in plastic pretending.

 

[Rodafina]

I can be very loud. I try never to let it happen around other people but I think it would make people uncomfortable.

I have no idea how I control it.

I am the same, with the noises. They are so abundant when I am alone, but I don’t know how I switch it off when I leave my realm of comfort. Maybe it is like a character/jacket like you mentioned. I have not discovered this for myself yet.

One of my vocal stims is speaking a lot of gibberish. It is a constant delivery of strange sounds from my mouth that may sound like words, but they are not. My dog actually understands me, because I use intonations in the gibberish.

I felt like for the first time in my life I was really there instead of in plastic pretending.

Just wanted to add that I really like the way you said this. I find there is no plastic pretending among the trees and the trails and the quiet fields where my dog and I go and I speak gibberish. The birds and the chipmunks and don’t seem to mind a bit.

 

[grommet]

I am the same, with the noises. They are so abundant when I am alone, but I don’t know how I switch it off when I leave my realm of comfort. Maybe it is like a character/jacket like you mentioned. I have not discovered this for myself yet.

It is odd. I have questioned my honesty because of this. If I put on a character, pretend to be someone else, I can talk freely. Being myself everything changes. I am not making choices I am aware of, it's something that just happens. Like a program inside me. I do not know if it is related but I remember being in school as a child and being myself and getting teased so badly that I started learning then to stop being myself. I remember being very conscious of it. I studied the other kids and tried to speak and act like they did. I hated it, it made me feel like I disappeared, but anything was better than being made fun of in front of everyone else.

One of my vocal stims is speaking a lot of gibberish. It is a constant delivery of strange sounds from my mouth that may sound like words, but they are not. My dog actually understands me, because I use intonations in the gibberish.

I used to make a kind of gibberish too but I thought it was really funny and it would make me laugh.

Just wanted to add that I really like the way you said this. I find there is no plastic pretending among the trees and the trails and the quiet fields where my dog and I go and I speak gibberish. The birds and the chipmunks and don’t seem to mind a bit.

 

[MildredHubble]

I pace, I pace, I pace and wear a hole in the floor! Unfortunately I can't pace as much as I would like due to the many pains in my joints. But I do my best thinking when I pace!

I also used to have a habit of drumming, I was like Dave Grohl minus the drum kit. I still do it a little.

This doesn't happen very often any more but when there was a loud noise or on one occasion something fell from a shelf and hit me on my neck. Basically a shock, would cause me to clap the palms of my hands with my fingers, like castanets. I don't tend to do it anymore, I felt embarrassed like some crazy lobster. In fact like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama. I'm glad I didn't go "woot woot woot!" like he does!

I also have a habit of cracking my knuckles, I don't know if that counts?

 

[Rodafina]

Basically a shock, would cause me to clap the palms of my hands with my fingers, like castanets. I don't tend to do it anymore, I felt embarrassed like some crazy lobster. In fact like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama. I'm glad I didn't go "woot woot woot!" like he does!

I know exactly what you mean. I tap the tips of my fingers to my thumb like a crab. But a lot. When I describe it to people they say, “don’t worry about those things, everyone fidgets a little.”

And then I show them and they say “oh!” and nothing further.

I used to make a kind of gibberish too but I thought it was really funny and it would make me laugh.

@grommet, imagine if two autistic people met on public transport and they started speaking to each other in gibberish and seemed to understand. That would be so funny. Laughter is good. I call myself the one woman circus so that I will keep smiling at least.

It is odd. I have questioned my honesty because of this. If I put on a character, pretend to be someone else, I can talk freely. Being myself everything changes. I am not making choices I am aware of, it's something that just happens. Like a program inside me. I do not know if it is related but I remember being in school as a child and being myself and getting teased so badly that I started learning then to stop being myself. I remember being very conscious of it. I studied the other kids and tried to speak and act like they did. I hated it, it made me feel like I disappeared, but anything was better than being made fun of in front of everyone else.

I understand. This is poignant for me to read because I remember learning how to hide my true self as well. Even though this happened to me as a child, it was reinforced throughout my life… Every time I let some of those true colors seep out by sharing a special interest or stimming in front of somebody else, it was met with ridicule. Even to this day. I desire the courage to be myself, but I don’t know how yet.

 

[Azul]

I never hand flapped, but sometimes, when I'm inside my head or imagining dialogues, I'll pace around, aimless, in the house. Only learned recently it can be a stim.

Other things that might be light stimming too are scratching my head and holding and twisting the tip of a blanket, and when younger I used to bite this blanket too. Now I don't do those anymore.

While my scores on autism tests are very borderline and I don't identify any immediately evident characteristic, I think I at least have a few traits.