Visualisations of autism

hahhaah aw how sweet! We had a huge one knock over our recycling bin the other week and he was snuffling through all the empty pizza boxes! Ok no worries - I can work with the hedgehog idea, don't worry about lots of ideas. Thats still a good research visual.

artist just popping in said:

Thanks vometiawow so not far from where I am then really! So what would the hedgehog look like? would it be a cartoony one? would it look happy? or angry? would you put it into a situation?

I'm now at the Fr Dougal stage of "I didn't realise I'd need to have lots of little ideas too!" :D [there should be a grin there, but the forum seems to delete them]  I hadn't really considered the hedgehog's mood: it just is.  But I'm reminded of the time we used to have a visiting hedgehog who liked to eat the leftover tandoori chicken.  Sadly, it chose another route when we had the back fence repaired and we haven't seen it since. D:

ClaireHig I really like the cat Idea so I'm in the process of drawing a cat lying on a beach at sunset. The cat looks startled/confused, as cats often do when they're watching somthing. It's trying to make sense of the world around it. 

Thanks vometia :) wow so not far from where I am then really! So what would the hedgehog look like? would it be a cartoony one? would it look happy? or angry? would you put it into a situation?

Cheers Illneverbeold - wow! I never knew my discussion would reach that far! :D

Thanks ClairHig :) I never dreamed anyone would reply on this thing so Its made me so happy there are other people out there who think similarly to myself - and the viarity o places you are all from is amazing!

I'm in the USA. From Alaska but live in North Florida

artist just popping in said:

theoryinbrooks.blogspot.co.uk/

If any of your are interested - this is the sort of work I do. I do not try to offend - I try to help neuro-typical people see their peers in a more creative lightjust if anyone on here wanted to have a look at my style. 

I would also love to know where abouts in the country everyone of you is from if thats not too much to ask - nothing really personal - just like general city or somthing - so I can show the diversity in replies from people all overIf not no worries for instance I'm from Hampshire, living in Cheltenham, England. 

artist just popping in said:

intresting... any particular reason why a hedeghog? do you feel like it relates to you in any way?

It's just what popped into my head, as things sometimes do randomly.  Not to represent me but rather autism, I guess being kinda harmless but a bit prickly.

And I'm in Oxford* but I didn't grow up here.

* thingy about posting personal information notwithstanding, I've always been too lazy to "do" online privacy.

Trainspotter said:

Hi Michelle

I don't see myself as being the one who is the 'animal'.  It is everyone else who behaves in ways which are difficult to understand.  Me, I behave perfectly rationally and normally.  At least I do from my perspective.  I manage to sort out problems with most things without having to resort to others (I haven't got the money anyway).  Rather than throw something away which has broken, I would examine it carefully to see if it can be mended.  Whether it is glue, tape, screws, spare parts, or even making a part myself to mend it, I will try.

It is others who are the 'creatures', the 'aliens'. 

They eat food which I find repulsive, with strong smells and taste  which I cannot bear to be near, which sureley means they cannot recognise the subtleness of simple food.  They listen to sounds on their portable listening devices and on the radio which I find a total noise.  They join together in rowdy packs, going to places where they eat and drink at far greater prices than they can by shopping at the local supermarket and taking it home.  They buy sandwiches which look soggy and well past their best and pay ten times as much as it does for me to make them at home and take them to work.  They have no idea about how to do arithmetic without a calculator, or to spell words properly without a spell check (and still get it wrong),  They throw away clothes which are perfectly serviceable because they are no longer 'fashionable' - surely if the. design of clothing does not look good now it never did.  They drive for miles to a town to do their shopping and buy things they could get from round the corner at the same price.    They live in one town and drive many miles from there to work, never doing anything in the town they 'live' except sleeping and watching the television. They can't appreciate the beauty of silence, of solitude, of wide open spaces  And they continually buy things they don't really need, and throw away perfectly good things to make room for them.

So the animal I would draw a person with ASD would be a normal human being.  Only (s)he would be surrounded by a whole array of strange beings with very strange ideas who for some reason consider themselves 'normal'.

I'm sure you can use your Artistic skills to put something like this on paper!

I can relate to much of that. With regard to the smells, it's a shame we didn't live in Victorian times. As they didn't have all the new 'trendy smelly foods'. Food was said to be quite bland. Clothing was simple & modest. Things were made to last & were repaired rather than thrown away. Conversation & socialisation was limited. With children only having to speak when spoken to. There was a taught formal script for adults when speaking with others. You knew what was expected. People shopped & travelled locally. There weren't fast cars. Animlas ruled the roads. Though I guess that would be smelly too. The downside, autism wasn't known about & there wasn't an adequate welfare state.

artist just popping in said:

Thanks ClaireHig. So what if i made the character entirely a cat? like a cat sitting on a towel on a beach at sunset, when all the humans are packing their bags to go home? Because you said you feel like their aliens, maybe if they were a seperate species, they would be alien to a cat? i you relate to a cat I could do that? what do you think?

Hello Vometia, thanks so much for joining our talk. How would you see autism if you have to visulize it as a creature or a scene? 

I don't really feel like a cat, I prefer the company of a cat to people. I guess I live in my own little bubble wherever I go. To people of now I seem abnormal, but maybe I'm just living in the wrong era & that's why they seem alien to me. The way someone from now would seem alien to those from 200 years ago. Personally I don't want to be part of the modern world. I know some people do, but I don't want that. I'm from Wokingham in Berkshire.

artist just popping in said:

So what would you say these creatures surrounding the person would look like?

I suppose the NT 'creatures' would look pretty much like people - except that they would have exagerrated expressions or features to emphasise their particular charecteristic.  Manic looking, snooty, 'superior' but really showing underneath just how inferior they really are.  So while the ASD is enjoying the simple pleasures, or adding to his knowledge of whatever his interest happens to be, the NTs are rushing round, panicking, and getting no satisfaction from what they are doing.

But I have neither the skill nor the imagination to describe it properly.  But in my mind there is an indescribable picture of what this would look like while at the same time I don't really know ... but my mind can see it perfectly.  A strange feeling I get when trying to imagine things, I can't describe it, I don't know what is there but I can see it perfectly.  Or perhaps I can't.  I'm confusing myself now!

theoryinbrooks.blogspot.co.uk/

If any of your are interested - this is the sort of work I do. I do not try to offend - I try to help neuro-typical people see their peers in a more creative lightjust if anyone on here wanted to have a look at my style. 

I would also love to know where abouts in the country everyone of you is from if thats not too much to ask - nothing really personal - just like general city or somthing - so I can show the diversity in replies from people all overIf not no worries for instance I'm from Hampshire, living in Cheltenham, England. 

Hi trainspotter, yes thats a very interesting point of view as well! thanks for joining. Yes i do know what you mean - neuro typical people do confuse me too in certain ways they act. Or things they say. I try so hard to think about what I say before i say it, so it doesnt offend people - and yet others will just come out and say it and act shocked when I say I'm insulted. So i very much see where you're coming from. 

So what would you say these creatures surrounding the person would look like?

Hi Michelle

I don't see myself as being the one who is the 'animal'.  It is everyone else who behaves in ways which are difficult to understand.  Me, I behave perfectly rationally and normally.  At least I do from my perspective.  I manage to sort out problems with most things without having to resort to others (I haven't got the money anyway).  Rather than throw something away which has broken, I would examine it carefully to see if it can be mended.  Whether it is glue, tape, screws, spare parts, or even making a part myself to mend it, I will try.

It is others who are the 'creatures', the 'aliens'. 

They eat food which I find repulsive, with strong smells and taste  which I cannot bear to be near, which sureley means they cannot recognise the subtleness of simple food.  They listen to sounds on their portable listening devices and on the radio which I find a total noise.  They join together in rowdy packs, going to places where they eat and drink at far greater prices than they can by shopping at the local supermarket and taking it home.  They buy sandwiches which look soggy and well past their best and pay ten times as much as it does for me to make them at home and take them to work.  They have no idea about how to do arithmetic without a calculator, or to spell words properly without a spell check (and still get it wrong),  They throw away clothes which are perfectly serviceable because they are no longer 'fashionable' - surely if the. design of clothing does not look good now it never did.  They drive for miles to a town to do their shopping and buy things they could get from round the corner at the same price.    They live in one town and drive many miles from there to work, never doing anything in the town they 'live' except sleeping and watching the television. They can't appreciate the beauty of silence, of solitude, of wide open spaces  And they continually buy things they don't really need, and throw away perfectly good things to make room for them.

So the animal I would draw a person with ASD would be a normal human being.  Only (s)he would be surrounded by a whole array of strange beings with very strange ideas who for some reason consider themselves 'normal'.

I'm sure you can use your Artistic skills to put something like this on paper!

intresting... any particular reason why a hedeghog? do you feel like it relates to you in any way? :)

artist just popping in said:

Hello Vometia, thanks so much for joining our talk. How would you see autism if you have to visulize it as a creature or a scene? 

First creature that popped into my mind was a hedgehog, even though my spirit animal is the sloth (probably).  Dunno why; I could try to analyse it, using the hedgehog's notable properties of being cute, spiky and noisy, but I appear to not be succeeding.

I hasten to add that I am not actually being flippant, at least for the time being.  I suppose I have my moments.

will do. thanks so much :)

Yeah, I guess so. If you are able to draw it to get the point across. Like the world you kind of want to be a part of, but can never make it because you aren't able to show yourself. The worlds perceptions are so different then the real me.

artist just popping in said:

I didnt mean it in a bad way ClaireHig - I meant whether you see it as a companion or whether you see it as an ailment. Its intirely individual. I didnt set out to offend people - I am perfectly happy myself with my Aspergus so I'm not saying its a bad thing at all. 

As for your post I'llneverbeold would you say it would be suitable if I drew a person walking down a street but everyone else is coloured in and solid, wheres the person in the centre frame is scribbly, like a rough drawing? like they havent been coloured in yet? More of a surreal situation than a creature? 

Could you possibly send me a link StephenHarris please?

Hi StephenHarris, thanks for taking part :) no I'm not - I'll have a look into it though. Would i find it on google? How would you see autism as a visual thing/entity?