Aren't we the normal ones for noticing everything??

I was always accused of staring, and it played on my mind.

Oh and the eye contact thing…. I feel quite mad when someone tries to hold my gaze, all I can think about is the way it feels inside my head, whether I’m staring too long and how I can look away. I realise that I very rarely make eye contact with anyone and all social situations I enjoy involve walking next to someone or sitting and crafting so no eye contact expected. 

Yes, metallic particularly bad, so closing the door to the house and using keys makes me feel horrible. I also have some smells that I will sniff all day long because they make me feel happy. 

Tell me about it. It makes just existing hard in some situations

I don't like the smell of some metals. Some things leave a smell on my hands and I have to wash them.

I was in a Procook shop a week ago and didn't buy something because of this. I wasn't convinced about what it was made of. I asked the assistant if it smelled and they left looked at me like I was mad.

I notice everything. I can always remember where things are in the house because I’ve seen them while moving around. I have a very strong sense of smell, I can often smell something I’ve touched and have to wash my hands frequently to get rid of that smell when others don’t notice it at all. I hear noises no one else hears. And yes the clothing! I am only happy wearing certain materials, I don’t like tight waistbands or lumpy clothes. Its both a  blessing and a curse to be so sensitive! 

I can relate, I hold eye contact well but yes you’re right, I’m thinking about it, and your post here is the first time I’ve realised I do this!

Yes! This I noticed as a child and wondered if there is something wrong with my sight. I tried to explain it to my mom but she shrugged and said its nothing important 

Good reply Stuart, thanks 

Me too

i get like that also same on stairs or my legs feel heavy and hard to lift

Whenever I get off a train, or escillator, I feel the need to stand still, for a split second, due to feeling dizzy. Fortunately, I haven't been pushed to one side.

Somebody once told me that you can see your nose every single minute you have your eyes open but your brain filters it out…. Take a minute and look at your nose and then tell me how long it takes yOu to stop seeing it fully again it strains your eyes when you look at it. I’m not sure the eye contact thing is about always looking in the eyes it’s just weird to look someone one in the eyes but I  don’t think about it any more I just look around like at hair or ears or anything else near by … but maybe you’re right because sometimes I look someone in the eyes and then start thinking wow I bet they don’t think I’m autistic doing this omg how am I doing this for so long haha 

When it comes to sensory input-  I could never understand,  how people standing in a group/ circle, hear  understand what the other ones say,  while there are cars driving and honking in the street, music playing in a nearby club, other people chatting around, dogs barking, child crying etc. In one word - in a crowdy busy street. They hear each other, laugh, chat, they know what the other one is talking about. For me the sensory input alone is a barrier that I could never overcome, and it was frustrating and I used to punish myself fir being inferior and the outsider like always. Another thing is the topics- when I put all my efforts and managed to keep up with the topic of their chit-chat, I found it so pointless and I had nothing to say to it, no experience and no intrest in it, that I wondered why would one waste their time talking about it (last Saturdays party for example). 

When it comes to eye contact,  one thing is doing it because you know others expect it (I was told I have to do it) other thing is doing it intuitively and pulling information out of the others face. I have an assistant for my daughter,  she comes home twice a month. She helps us. She informs me, what feels my daughter. We both look at her. I don't understand,  but she knows, what my daughter's gaze or reaction means. I can understand to some degree, but im blind to subtle signs. Exploring autism gives me a lot of answers and helps me understand the gap between me and world.

I think I can compare the processing of information by NTs to a file compression. 

That's something I should remember!

Definately agree, I also blur feeling unable to see what's in front of me or go into tunnel vision I guess this maybe survival mode .

My hearing also struggles does anyone experience that?

I feel exactly the same. There's a lot of people in this world who just aren't aware of what's going on around them and don't really care. It's like they walk around with their brains half switched on, only able to carry out basic functions. I put it down to intelligence and a lower level of brain activity.

I've thought for a long time ASD, particularly the social aspect, isn't down to a mental health condition, it's a response to this unnatural way of life most of us have been born into. Even though we live in a modern 'evolving' society we're still just human beings, with the same basic needs as humans 1000 years ago would've had (if humans have been around that long). I think deep down we know there's something very wrong with this world.

I'm not convinced we have a mental health condition which improves the way we think, see, hear and perceive the world, rather this has been gradually reduced from others if anything, but again it could just be down to intelligence and lower brain activity.

I don't think it's dangerous to them because to them it doesn't pose any immediate threat. It seems most people I've met are happy to get on with their lives without questioning anything, detached from the real world, because that's what they've been trained to do.

It's hard to know if we're hypersensitive or normal because we don't come with a manual. In a way it would be like saying a computer was manufactured with a virus which improved it's memory, processing speed etc which wasn't there in the first place, which I'm sure would be virus we'd all want our computers to have, lol.

Thank you this makes a lot of sense!

I believe our skills have been exploited for millennia, but that the awareness has now shifted to the imbalance of power and inequality that exists. The level of injustice is too big for most people to comprehend because it’s normalised in their behaviour and attitude towards human life.

I'm the opposite. My sense of smell was non-existent; since I became a young man. And I was fired for poor personal hygiene, back in 2004.