idle musings

[kaberett]

(1) I keep wondering if some of the reason I'm a Silence For Preference autistic is related to the high sensory input from Weird Interoception Superpowers. (Apparently most people can't choose anywhere in their skin to feel their pulse, nor -- even if appropriately equipped -- give real-time directions to their cervix.) It's clearly not the whole story, because all of these things are complex intersecting wossnames and I can very easily see how I could very easily be an All The Noise All The Time To Drown It Out autistic, but. I wonder.

(2) "I wrote all the details down so I wouldn't have to make facenoises at you under stress; please read them" worked much better in A&E on Saturday (even expressed, as it was, as "autistic -- printout -- personal history!" + distressed flappy hand) than it ever has with the DWP. This isn't surprising, of course, but it is, I feel, indicative.

Comments

[davidgillon]

Silence for Preference ... Weird Interioception Superpowers"

Interesting, and I'd certainly think it at least has an input. It's doubly weird given the association of hypermobility and poor proprioception, rather than enhanced bodily awareness. I'm fairly certain my own dislike of nightclub type environs is as much amount of people as amount of noise, but the noise is clearly playing a role. Clear there's more than one highway to hell sensory overload, especially when you're dealing with a mix of senses.

worked much better in A&E ... than it ever has with the DWP

*sigh* colour me unsurprised.

[lilysea]

"I wrote all the details down so I wouldn't have to make facenoises at you under stress; please read them" worked much better in A&E on Saturday (even expressed, as it was, as "autistic -- printout -- personal history!" + distressed flappy hand) than it ever has with the DWP. This isn't surprising, of course, but it is, I feel, indicative.

Oh, yay!

My experience of providing printouts is that medical staff don't read them [or sometimes they just skim them] and ask me to talk at them instead

which I can't always do

- mental fatigue
- aphasia
- selective mutism

[lilysea]

I like a lot of silence.

Partly because noise = mentally exhausting

and noise = migraine trigger

and partly because I have an auditory processing disorder that means I can't understand speech well if there is any background noise [including eg the noise an espresso machine in a cafe makes]

the frogs in my garden don't bother me, tho, unless I have a migraine

noises that are the worse for me in terms of how much they hurt =
pedestrian crossing gates closing warning bells;
fire/ambulance sirens;
crying/screaming babies;
power tools - drills, whipper-snippers, leaf blowers

I often struggle to cope with hold music

and loud music in public spaces

[hydrangea]

Fascinating! I'm super particular with my noise levels and can't do quiet OR noisy.

They keep telling me to bring a print out here, that it's fine, but, like, *flappy hands* I keep doing the non-verbal statue thing. Which is why I always bring someone these days.

[ewt]

My sensitivity to other noises definitely seems worse when I have more tinnitus but I've not managed to figure out cause and effect there.

[oracne]

I'm glad you had a printout. That was really smart and well-planned.

[vass]

(1) is hilarious to me because I'm also a Silence of Preference autistic most of the time, but definitely do not have the Weird Interoception Superpowers. In fact I cannot always find my own arse.

(2) "I wrote all the details down so I wouldn't have to make facenoises at you under stress; please read them" worked much better in A&E on Saturday (even expressed, as it was, as "autistic -- printout -- personal history!" + distressed flappy hand) than it ever has with the DWP.

*wince* I'm torn between rage at the DWP, gratitude that at least A&E got it right, and a little grump that I've tried that with my GP and she couldn't do it because the information wasn't formatted in the order the questions came in her head, and she couldn't read it and synthesise it in realtime, so she wanted me to reorder it in my head while answering verbally. Which... if I could just get the Expected Order of the Clinical Interview from her ahead of time, I could format it that way! But I suspect she doesn't actually know.

[highlyeccentric]

Apparently most people can't choose anywhere in their skin to feel their pulse, nor -- even if appropriately equipped -- give real-time directions to their cervix

I can't do that but I have always been infuriated by people asserting that you shouldn't be able to feel tampons. When I had heavy flow I could feel them but in the way you feel your watch, a non-issue unless something weird happens. When I went on the pill and my periods lightened they become either infuriating, or worse, arousing, rubbing in either the Bad Places or the Good Places at inconvenient times.

It hadn't occured to me until now that this is possibly a neurodivergence thing! Huh.

[highlyeccentric]

she couldn't do it because the information wasn't formatted in the order the questions came in her head, and she couldn't read it and synthesise it in realtime, so she wanted me to reorder it in my head while answering verbally. Which... if I could just get the Expected Order of the Clinical Interview from her ahead of time, I could format it that way! But I suspect she doesn't actually know.

I am SO FRUSTRATED by this. Swiss doctors clearly have a different expected order / different level of priority to Australian ones, and giving clinical history is SO ANNOYING. If i start with the acute problem they get annoyed at the lack of context; if I start from the beginning they get annoyed with the meandering, but I CANNOT figure out how they actually want it presented!