What would make housing autism friendly?

[Pats]

Controllable everything.
Lighting.
Temperature.
Ventilation.
Humidity.
Curtains.

Soundproofing a must. Visual intercom and automatic locks on all doors and windows so I can trigger them all instantly to feel safe & secure.

Would be quite partial to having a floatation tank in there too.

You need a water bed. lol

 

[Autistamatic]

Personally I'd love to have motorized retractable blinds in a home.

Light or pitch blackness, all with a push of a button.

Hanging a 49ers blanket over my bedroom curtain rod just doesn't quite cut it.

We have blackout curtains in every room (manual though).
My wife has to take a nap or at least a lie down every afternoon so on weekends when I'm home I draw them closed whilst I'm computering away. It's not quite pitch black but it's so nice to do. I like bright light on anything I'm concentrating on but as dim as possible elsewhere.

 

[Thinx]

Penny slot machines. A room of them like the simple and fun arcades I loved as a child. That would be nice. And plenty of old pennies.

 

[Streetwise]

What specific things (design features or on-site amenities/services) might make housing autism friendly?

Please note: The purpose of this thread is NOT to discuss what is and is not possible with respect to autism friendly housing. It is NOT to debate whether anything suggested in this thread could or will ever happen. It is not even to discuss ways to make it happen. It is to discuss what “autism-friendly housing” would look like to the users of this forum.

An example of what would make housing autism friendly in my view:

Very high caliber sound insulation. This is so loud vocal stimmers could stim without bothering anyone; So those of us who scream and make a lot of noise during meltdowns wouldn’t have the additional fear/problem of bothering or frightening our neighbours; For those of us with severe sound sensitivity to retain a level of sanity and basic freedom from pain and distress that normal people take for granted and thus improve our daily functioning and quality of life.

hope this isn’t political all I ever think is no people anywhere

 

[Streetwise]

A guide in Germany once told us that in medieval times there was a belief that the devil lived in perfect 90 degree angles, so that things were not made quite square. I don't know if it was true or just pulling our leg, but often certainly looked that way.

View attachment 57309

in the picture it’s just to let the rain run off, and it was common not to have terracotta ,wooden tiles on your roof , people had Willow on their roofs , tiles came from Europe and were expensive ,only the Monasteries could afford that, If you made a roof that was flat in the UK it would rot within a couple of years ,it’s not green for no reason,A certain percentage of Irish people believed that you had to build things at a certain angle to prevent the devil sitting on them, pyramid shaped coping stones , if you go to pubs in North Yorkshire in small villages there is the star of David on the wall to keep the devil away .If you couldn’t read ,so you couldn’t read the Bible ,you did the best you could.

 

[grommet]

It depends on the autistic person really.
I think my housing situation is perfect for me (or as close as possible), but probably wouldn't be for someone else. Of course there are some constant hums that I could do without.

Hums make me feel crazy.

 

[grommet]

What specific things (design features or on-site amenities/services) might make housing autism friendly?

Please note: The purpose of this thread is NOT to discuss what is and is not possible with respect to autism friendly housing. It is NOT to debate whether anything suggested in this thread could or will ever happen. It is not even to discuss ways to make it happen. It is to discuss what “autism-friendly housing” would look like to the users of this forum.

An example of what would make housing autism friendly in my view:

Very high caliber sound insulation. This is so loud vocal stimmers could stim without bothering anyone; So those of us who scream and make a lot of noise during meltdowns wouldn’t have the additional fear/problem of bothering or frightening our neighbours; For those of us with severe sound sensitivity to retain a level of sanity and basic freedom from pain and distress that normal people take for granted and thus improve our daily functioning and quality of life.

This is might be my favorite thread on aspie central, thank you for starting it. I love the ideas. Most important to me is that until I few minutes ago I thought I was alone having all these things that make me so uncomfortable, especially being sensitive to noise. I was made fun of pretty badly for my sensitivities when I was young and now as an adult people still give me unapproving and mocking looks when they hear about what is upsetting me.

It is not my fault. I am not "sensitive". They say that word as criticism like there is something wrong or selfish about me. People tell me I would get used to things if I tried. They are so wrong. I cannot control my reactions and my brain seems to not allow me to disregard some things. I will not get used to them.

I apologize that this next thought it going off topic but I feel strongly and it is hard not to mention - the autistic qualities I have, that I have been made fun of for, have given me many practical advantages. NTs who make fun of me are often in deep financial debt for things they did not need like expensive fashionable clothes and trendy things, buying things they wanted to be better socially. Not having that need I have done well with less money and had no debt of that kind. As I am already off-topic (will edit this part out if you ask me to) I will not go on further but I think others here understand.

Thank you Tortoise for this thread and your wonderful ideas, I especially like the light that would be more orange in the evening. Thank you to everyone else for telling me about yourselves. I really did not know until just now that someone else was like me about these sensitivities. So many years feeling alone about this.

 

[Streetwise]

Hums make me feel crazy.

what are Hums

 

[grommet]

what are Hums

Confusing.

 

[the_tortoise]

what are Hums

The buzzing/humming electrical noises, I thought.

Like electronics when turned on or in standby mode and dimmer switches.

 

[grommet]

The buzzing/humming electrical noises, I thought.

Like electronics when turned on or in standby mode and dimmer switches.

For me it is electrical lights. Makes me feel crazy if I think about it too much.

I once visited a place my mother lived and it was so quiet. I sat and listened hard and still couldn't hear anything. I have never been to a place so absolutely quiet like that. It was very nice, almost magical.

 

[Streetwise]

The buzzing/humming electrical noises, I thought.

Like electronics when turned on or in standby mode and dimmer switches.

Ah that kind of humming high-pitched I see , I thought hums was a new urban culture word maybe !?

 

[Streetwise]

For me it is electrical lights. Makes me feel crazy if I think about it too much.

I once visited a place my mother lived and it was so quiet. I sat and listened hard and still couldn't hear anything. I have never been to a place so absolutely quiet like that. It was very nice, almost magical.

Be glad you’re hearing is still at the point where you can hear high-pitched electrical noises ,now I don’t hear a lot of them ,instead I have tinnitus ,it doesn’t happen a lot but it drives me nuts.

 

[Streetwise]

The buzzing/humming electrical noises, I thought.

Like electronics when turned on or in standby mode and dimmer switches.

I thought at first humming a melody under your breath ,forgot the Tinnitus like sounds .

 

[grommet]

Ah that kind of humming high-pitched I see , I thought hums was a new urban culture word maybe !?

Thank you for explaining. It might have seemed that way because it was capitalized but that was a coincidence as it began the sentence.

I try to avoid using trending culture terms. I mean it literally as in the hum heard from lights or appliances.

 

[grommet]

Be glad you’re hearing is still at the point where you can hear high-pitched electrical noises ,now I don’t hear a lot of them ,instead I have tinnitus ,it doesn’t happen a lot but it drives me nuts.

I think my hearing has changed. When was young I could hear capacitors charging and the sound was awful. I could hear the whine from far away. I have tinnitus too though only sometimes is it so bad it makes me feel crazy. Maybe for an aspie it is one of the worst things to have.

 

[Progster]

Soundproofing/double glazing - no, triple glazing. I have double glazing and home and can still hear the neighbours dog outside.
Black-out blinds or shutters on bedroom windows.
Controlable lighting, no LED spotlights or flourescent lighting.
All necessary appliances chosen for low noise levels - washing machine, computer, etc. Fridge, washing machine and noisy appliances kept in a utility room, which is adjacent to the kitchen.
Bathroom with dark coloured tiles (no coincidence that I insisted on dark colours for my bathroom).