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
Wow. I think your film sounds (reads) amazing. I hope you will share it when it is done. What I would say is that I think your story is quite unique and I think that it is important to reflect that everyone of us on (or off) the spectrum has a different perspective and a different experience of the world. I hope that others will share perspectives on their sensory experience because I think that it is great to share that and understand from others. However, maybe do not feel that you need to incorporate other experiences because creating a generalised character may not have that same impact as highlighting the unique experience of your character. I do not think you can get it wrong. I hope that made sense. I see myself and my differences in contrast to many of the "characters" in the TMI videos on the NAS site.
I find it interesting what you shared regarding your experience of light and colour. That you feel like you are living in HD. Some years ago I now I started wearing shaded glasses. I often used to put them on in bright lights, but I wear them even at night because I find the world too 3 dimensional. That probably seems weird. I usually only take them off when looking at a screen (like now).
I also experience difficulties with sound especially when there are multiple sound sources at once. I do the ear covering from time to time too. I have also noticed that one's tolerance declines as a day progresses so I might have handled the sound of traffic fine in the morning, lunchtime whatever, then by afternoon it suddenly sounds deafening, even though I "know" it is similar in volume. Unless tires on roads gets louder in afternoons. Maybe I should buy a decibel meter (!).
Thank you for the info! Haha, I've found my own tolerance levels fluctuate too. If i'm hungry or stressed things are a lot worse I've found!
I really appreciate you contributing, thank you!