Published on 12, July, 2020
I was walking through the city centre this morning with my earphones in with some Iron Maiden blasting away and I took pause for a moment to realise what I was doing.I realised that I was scanning the area around me - not just the immediate area but several hundred yards ahead, the buildings I was passing, the skyscrapers a half a mile away, the traffic on the road, the traffic on a road passing underneath, the shops and stalls, the beggers and the police and hundreds of padestrians.A lot of the scanning was subconcious but I was aware of the situation, the risks, alternate routes available, potential risks moving into the area and, err, a rather attractive lady walking towards me.It is hard to describe how the processing feels, but it is not unlike something from Terminator where the environment is scanned and theats assessed, although it is much faster than shown in the films.This was an example of the lack of filters in neurodivergents that allow us to take in a massive amount of info at the same time and work out what is a threat, what has changed since the last visit and what is moving potentially into our path to be avoided / accommodated.In case you are wondering why the attractive lady was a risk, lets just say that if my wife caught me looking then I would be in for a world of pain. She has very strong views on me checking out the competition shall we say.When I am walking with someone else I have noticed that they seem mostly oblivious to their surroundings or - if they think there may be a threat - very anxious and nervous, making them look quite unnatural. I tend to have my stoney faced look firmly on while navigating all the chaos at a decent walking pace and staying out of harms way.Sao Paulo has its fair share of threats, whether stoned homeless guys on the street looking to rob you (luckily not common), pushy beggers, corrupt police, fast moving delivery push bikes, faster moving courier motorbikes, uneven pavements and drivers who are happy to run red lights, so it takes some focus to navigate this safely while being fully aware of your surroundings.Thats it, I just thought I would share this observation I made of my mind in its normal state when out and about - quietly hyperactive while keeping me safe.
Maybe you should move to a quieter place
Lestat said:Maybe you should move to a quieter place
Oddly enough I enjoy it - I've lived in Glasgow, London and Sao Paulo and love the big city feel to them - somehow you can escape inside such a crowd and be all by yourself.
I do this in both cities and e.g. the countryside or beach. Until I was about 20 years of age; I assumed that was the case for everyone. Then I began to realise that was not so for most people. I imagine that they must miss out on so very much from their surroundings.
Wow, just wow! I'm blown away by the idea of "rawdogging on a flight".
I know enough about aviation, and the machinery and practice to know that I am in a situation where NOTHING I can do will improve my odds of surviving if anything goes wrong, BUT if my luck holds and I survive the experience, I will arrive somewhere where I will need to navigate new situations and circumstances, and where I CAN influence the outcome, and arriving adequately fed, toilettted and relaxed and ready to go is my priority.
The original meaning of rawdog is not that. But lately people have been applying it to non 'adult' situations. Leading to confusion in some quarters.
Iain said:look it up
A bit of a surprising assumption; that people would / should need to look it up. I didn't need to look it up. However, even though this thread is within the Autistic adults category, if people were to feel compelled to look it up; I would signpost to a recent BBC article - which includes the relevant health warnings (explained by health professionals) ...and not least of which because this term notoriously does not translate at all well into the realms of browser search promotion algorithms (thereby risking potentially vulnerable people within our Community finding themselves within the more adult definitions earlier associated with the term - than I imagine was originally intended by this post about flights).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y83kj3wg2o
I imagine that they must miss out on so very much from their surroundings.
There is something slightly intoxicating about letting the senses open up and feel the data just flow into you. I can't do it for much more than an hour or two or I get a headache (probably from the constant refocusing of the eyes).
By contrast when I've had to rawdog on a flight (look it up - it means having no distractions like a book, music, phone or TV screen to watch) then it feels really boring. I have had to resort to meditating otherwise I would get a bit stir crazy from lack of input.
The brain is a strange thing! I can imagine being a suitable candidate for a Robocop donor brain mind you - I watched the remake a few nights ago and thought that this would be a good use for it.