|
 In,
"Breaking the Shell,"
Alan learns about the many forms autism can take, and the
progress being made by scientists like Geraldine Dawson to
understand this complex condition. Temple Grandin is an adult
with autism who parlayed her different way of thinking into
a successful international career designing livestock equipment.
She also designed and built the so-called "squeeze machine,"
which helps many people with autism relieve the anxiety commonly
associated with disorder. The author of several books- including
Thinking in Pictures, about her life with autism- Grandin
attributes some of her success to early intervention. Today,
Grandin serves as a passionate ambassador for people with
autism. Here, she describes how she views the world through
autism.
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Excerpted
from:
"My
Experiences with Visual Thinking- Sensory Problems and Communication
Difficulties" June, 2000.
In
this paper, I will describe my experiences with autism. The
main areas I will cover are visual thinking, sensory problems,
and difficulties with communication. After I describe my experiences,
I will discuss the similarities and differences between myself
and other people with an autism diagnosis.
SOUND
AND VISUAL SENSITIVITY
My
hearing is like having a sound amplifier set on maximum loudness.
My ears are like a microphone that picks up and amplifies
sound. I have two choices: 1) turn my ears on and get deluged
with sound or 2) shut my ears off. Mother told me that sometimes
I acted like I was deaf. Hearing tests indicated that my hearing
was normal. I can't modulate incoming auditory stimulation.
I discovered that I could shut out painful sounds by engaging
in rhythmic stereotypical autistic behavior. Sometimes I "tune
out". For example, I will be listening to a favorite song
on the car radio and then later realize that I tuned out and
missed half of the song. In college, I had to constantly take
notes to prevent tuning out.
My ears are like a microphone that picks up and amplifies
sound.
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I
am unable to talk on the telephone in a noisy office or airport.
If I try to screen out the background noise, I also screen
out the voice on the telephone. Autistic people with more
severe auditory processing problems are unable to hear a conversation
in a relatively quiet hotel lobby.
Many
bad behaviors are triggered due to anticipation of being subjected
to a painful noise. Some autistic children will attempt to
break the telephone because they are afraid it will ring.
Common noises that cause discomfort in many autistic individuals
are school bells, fire alarms, score board buzzers in the
gym, squealing microphone feedback and chairs scraping on
the floor. When I was a child, I feared the ferry boat that
took us to our summer vacation home. When the boat's horn
blew, I threw myself on the floor and screamed. Autistic children
and adults may fear dogs or babies because they are unpredictable,
and can make a hurtful noise without warning. I liked the
sound of flowing water and enjoyed pouring water back and
forth between orange juice cans; whereas another child may
avoid the sound of flowing water.
I
liked the visual stimulation of watching automatic sliding
doors; whereas another child might run and scream when he
or she sees an automatic sliding door. A loud vacuum cleaner
may cause fear in one autistic child and may be a pleasurable
fixation to another child. When I look at moving sliding doors,
I get the same pleasurable feeling that used to occur when
I engaged in rocking or other stereotypical autistic behaviors.
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