Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I’m working on an animated short film (3 minutes long-ish) for my final year at the University for the Creative arts in Farnham and I’m making it about the sensory experiences of Autism.
I got diagnosed as High Functioning this January so I’ve been finding out a lot that what I see isn’t what others do, like I see the really tiny details in skin, where you look and see triangle shapes that then are made up of tinier triangles in to infinity it seems. At that point it starts feeling like a fractal and I have to stop looking cos it starts freaking me out! But anyway, I’ve found it makes me feel both like I have this amazing and sometimes scary lens which I experience the world through, but that I can’t quite articulate to anyone else, like my family who are all neurotypical.
This is what I wanted to make my film about. So it’s a young child drawing and what they see is different. (it’s shown as like a torch beam from their eyes, with a little patch of strong colour. It’s hard to explain, it’s a representative sort of metaphor I guess...) A neurotypical girl asks them what they’re looking at. When they point the girl can’t see it, they see things different to one and other. This makes the child dispirited but in the end, they have the idea to show her their drawings instead. The idea/message point of the film being that it’s difficult for others to truly see from the autistic sensory viewpoint, but us as autistic people can do our best to communicate it, like through drawing, to open up our world. It may only be the tip of the iceberg that people see, but it’s still an insight. (Please point out to me if I’ve got any details you think from your experience, I’ve got wrong.)
ANYWAY! I’m hoping to have a little narration over the top, about the sensory experience and heightened sensitivity. Like for example, to me I see the tiny details and I love how light affects colours, so it’s like I’m living in HD. Sound is a big issue because sometimes I like it, but too much of it is distressing for me. (walking along roads with hands over my ears. I hate it when crockery clatters) it feels like I’m literally being pushed around or hit by the sounds.
SO! To get to the point, I was wondering if any of you felt like contributing your own experiences or descriptions of what the sensory side of autism can be like. I’d then use some to put together this narration for my film. I’m hoping to submit it to international festivals if it goes well (and I survive my third year!) so it would be a great way of highlighting this aspect of autism from an autistic person’s position and getting it out there in to the world. But I want to get it right, which is why I’m asking all ya’ll out there for your input,
Thank you!
Mim
Mimriam said: I got diagnosed as High Functioning this January so I’ve been finding out a lot that what I see isn’t what others do, like I see the really tiny details in skin, where you look and see triangle shapes that then are made up of tinier triangles in to infinity it seems. At that point it starts feeling like a fractal and I have to stop looking cos it starts freaking me out! But anyway, I’ve found it makes me feel both like I have this amazing and sometimes scary lens which I experience the world through, but that I can’t quite articulate to anyone else, like my family who are all neurotypical.
I so so very much know what you mean here, in that I have fractal: point, line, circle, triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon and or heptagon 'lenses', as which occur singularly or collectively together in part or whole ~ for shorter or longer durations ~ along with black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and or white lensings; as depending upon which one or ones happen to be phasing in or out at the time.
My basic vision is what in artistic terms is referred to as 'Pointillism', with the works of the French post-impressionist painter Georges Seurat (1859 to 1891) being quite literally 'spot-on' for 'pointed' examples.
In terms of the geometric stuff, I found a book titled 'Migraine' by Oliver Sacks to be referential gold in both the descriptive and depictive senses. A couple of other rather elucidating books for me on this topic by the same author ~ were 'Hallucinations', and 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat'.
Another point of reference from a fellow Aspergian community member here at the NAS is 'mr aspie' ~ with his art and music website 'mraspie.com', which if you have not seen it is particularly relevant to my visual sense of things and your current inquiry seemingly.
Like yourself Mr aspie is a new member, and he recently posted the thread 'Adult aspie using art and music to communicate' ~ should you feel inclined to use the 'Search Community' function at the top of the page.
Oops ~ forgot to write all big and welcome to you first, yet none the less and all the more ~ I really hope that you get to enjoy being able to articulate away your sometimes scary feelings about your Neurologically Divergent (or N.D.) sensibilities, and instead become confident about them as being quite normal for some others as well.
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P.S. It seems as is unfortunately all too easy currently ~ that you have not read the community rules, being that rule number 2 states:
"This Community forum is public, so do not post personal or identifying details on it. This includes, but is not limited to: full names, addresses and phone numbers."
Some of us have attempted to get the NAS to make the rules compulsory reading before people become Community members, but to no effect seemingly. It makes no sense to me that the NAS has rule number 2 and does nothing whatsoever about it getting broken. So unless you have ignored this rule, if only on the 'selfie' front, you have not knowingly done wrong, nor need you then as such to apologise. Please though peruse the community rules as they are for everyone's personal safety, and should you decide to accept and exemplify rule number 2 accordingly ~ this Post Script will be duly deleted; unless you state otherwise.
Thank you for the help and advice! It's really useful and interesting to find out and compare different characteristics of our condition. Thank you!