Fuck Yeah, Stimming!

It’s time to start submitting your stims and getting the conversation rolling! The idea of this blog is to explore how stimming is experienced by autistic people, and to build a database of behaviour types. What are your stims? How do they feel? What parameters of the stim are the most relaxing? What music is best for stimming? I want to hear how happy you all become when you do your favourite stims. I want to see diagrams of what kind of movements have the biggest effect. I want to see pictures of what you imagine when you stim. I ask not just what stims you have, but how you conceptualise stimming as a sensory experience. I’m interested in what triggers them as well (add warnings if they’re traumatic). One of my major triggers is actually reading about stimming, so this will be an interesting blog to run! The blog is currently run by Alyssa.

[autistic-af]

as a kid i would do this thing that i would now call “stretching my eyes”. essentially just looking as hard as i can in any and all directions. it felt good, it gave a nice sensation akin to rubbing them. the only problem was that it freaked my parents out.

i would do it practically anywhere but i didn’t think it happened so much as to be concerning but the way my parents would react to me doing it would have you believe it was a constant behavior.

i’ve since filmed myself doing it and yes it does look a bit concerning but i wish i had to words back then to describe why i was doing it because all i could offer as a child was “i don’t know”

i realize now it was a stimming behavior albeit a strange one. stretching them really was the whole goal, to feel the slight strain as i looked as hard as possible into all corners of my eyes

i remember my dad telling me not to do it if i could help it because it could mean i have a brain tumor and he didn’t want to have to take me to the hospital. i just think it’s so strange the way neurotypical parents will view their autistic children’s behaviors as deliberately distressing as possible and will jump to the wildest conclusions beyond “it feels nice to do”

(sorry if the eye stuff freaks you out)

This is confusing to me, especially as anyone who works with computers knows that eye stretches are safe and important. And feel awesome lol.

And abnormal eye movement can be a sign of brain tumour...but not just you stretching your muscles. This is probably just him not liking that you were doing them and had a fear because you were a kid. I had a few times as a kid where I'd do things but be unable to explain why and it freaked my parents out.

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

req'd by @yeehaw-hours

hell yea hell yea

text: For you it's a stim, for me it's a lifestyle

[sherlocksflataffect]

Hey, I wanted to ask what your thoughts are on allistic ndv people using the word "stimming"? Since I've learned about stimming I've realized that is a much more apt description for a lot of my "habits".

I’m okay with other neurodivergent people doing it.

This is where it’s clear I’m old though; in the early 2000s we were always catching non autistic (even neurotypical) people stimming at our presentations & pointing out that the difference isn’t the purpose of the behavior or the doing of it but who is & isn’t pathologized.

So, yeah, from where I sit stimming is for everyone (well, everyone who actually stims. the purpose matters…). Opinions may vary on this. 

[withasmoothroundstone]

thank you for your answer to my ask about autistic language, it made a lot of sense. i guess what i wonder/worry about--and i'm not saying it's your responsibility to answer, you are not the Grand Arbiter of How We Communicate and i don't wanna push that on you--is like. am i "allowed" (in the figurative sense, no one's going to physically stop me) to sit down and pass stones? even if i'm not "speaking"? even if i'm doing it "wrong" and just getting sensory pleasure from the stones?

Yes you can do whatever you want with stones and anyone who tells you otherwise is an asshole.

I’ve been told that (some of the time) I don’t rock the way “real autistic people” rock. I rock many different ways and I have seen other autistic people doing every single one of them. So when people say things like that I know it’s from ignorance at best and malice at worst.

I also got told real autistic people flap hands up and down not side to side. Funny, when I was in special ed I saw very young autistic kids doing both. I do both. Good grief some people will find anything to nitpick.

I call them the Stim Police and hold them in very low regard. Any movement or activity that you do is valid no matter why or how or when you learned it as long as you’re not like… Throwing rocks at people or something. And yeah I’m not the arbiter of this but I know it’s true.

[enbyplant]

do other autistic ppl ever trace patterns w a part of their body as stimming?

[nicocoer]

yep

[withasmoothroundstone]

Yes

[autisticadvocacy]

What We Believe - Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Our Motto: What is “Nothing About Us Without Us”?“Nothing About Us Without Us” means that autistic people need to be involved whenever autis

ASAN works to make sure people understand that autism isn’t a bad thing. It's a developmental disability—and disability is a natural part of human diversity.

[funeral--pyre]

'Cause people tend to not get the memo: People acting strangely in public is not a danger to you. Pacing, talking to themselves or something you can't see, laughing to themselves, stimming, twitching, ticcing, making "weird" noises--it doesn't fucking matter. They're not your personal freak show, they're not broken, they're not a murderer and they're definitely not going to be fucking helped by you calling the authorities or anyone else on em. These actions alone are not indicative of danger to you, as a random person on the street. Shut the fuck up and move on, leave disabled people alone.

[fuckyeahstimming]

An online survey about stimming, mindfulness, and other contemplative practices, is open to autistic adults in any country. To find out more and take part see: https://tinyurl.com/Aut-Mindful. Shares are very much appreciated.

[teaboot]

God save me from objectively funny echolalia loops

[teaboot]

I’m in the middle of reading an interesting post about vaginoplasty procedures when the shitty little gargoyle that lives on my shoulder leans in to my ear and whispers “penis deletus” and I yell FUCK cause I just know that’s gonna be it for me for the next six days

[k-pagination]

I Will Not Have Quiet Hands (poem)

I Will Not Have Quiet Hands

There are gracile hands

with fingers that flutter down

onto the keys of a piano

and all you can do is

watch

as they move

up and down with the keys –

a movement that falls into rhythm

and you forget the music to watch

up down up down up down and

it almost reminds me of a horseback rider

posting to the trot of steady hooves and

the withers rising and falling

as steadily as the fingers on the piano

fingers that are nothing

like mine:

fingers and hand motions

that are acceptable to society.

~*~*~*~*~

(and despite lessons, I never learned

how to post to a horse’s trot or

to play the piano)

~*~*~*~*~

because my hands too go

up down up down up down and

people turn to look and stare

and it is implicitly clear

that I should desist:

my hands are not playing even

an invisible piano

my up down up down up down

is wrong

my up down up down up down

is useless and unworthy

because they don’t make

something as beautiful as

the pianist.

society has told me quiet hands

are more convenient for them

but I will not have quiet hands:

my hands are just as beautiful loud.

~*~*~*~*~

© Paige Mead, 2014

[hyperfixationjunkie]

Rate my epic vocal stims

Have confidence! …No confidence (Korone, Hololive)

Baka! Baka! Baka! (Hatsune Miku, Triple Baka)

SKULLEMOJIIIIIII (Matt Rose)

Bacon pancakes, makin’ bacon pancakes (The Green Bird Brigade/Adventure Time)

A very gentle yoink (Fishingarrett)

Glassk (Apollo and Frens)

🎶Bitta choco decoration~🎶 (Project Sekai/Hatsune Miku, Bitter Choco Decoration)

Technically it’s not magic, it’s ✨alchemy✨ (Tangled the Series)

MISTER CRAZY VILLAIN, VILLAIN (VFlower, Villain)

Sore wa chigau yo! (Danganronpa)

Voting ended onMar 12, 2025

[willisiam-woodiam]

YAY stimming cause why not

[fuckyeahstimming]

I write about stuff. Like autism. And migraines. And teaching. And how teaching is broken, especially when it's teaching autistic kids.

[autiebiographical]

Day 30 of Auctober!

There aren't a lot of accommodations provided to autistic people so we often have to accommodate ourselves. I can't go outside without my headphones. I always have at least one stim toy in my purse. I accommodate myself because the world won't.

[autiebiographical]

Day 31 of Auctober!

While there are some things that set of an autistics' sensory NO there are some that set off our sensory YES! For me one of them is the texture of marble. I loooooove marble! Touching it tickles my brain in all the right ways.

[strangeygirl]

Auctober 2024 day 31 : Sensory euphoria

As a kid, there was a few mundane things I loved doing, like crushing sand or saying certain words because it inexplicably felt good. Now it's more the feeling of cool stone, when the sun hits me just right and softly warms me up, the texture of macarons when you chew it, putting my head on my cat and feeling the vibrations of her purring, all those things that make me feel alive and bring me joy :)

Aaaaaaand finish ! With this, Auctober is over for me ! I think I did good personnaly, it was an enjoyable experience (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

[xxskyethetiredemoxx]

Auctober 2024

Day 18: self regulating

Self regulating is important for autistic people, but it can also be difficult for a lot of us.

A lot of autistic people have unusual ways of self regulating. Stimming is a huge one for many of us. As is something like watching comfort shows, or listening to music.

For me, music is my main way to self regulate, as I can get out all the emotions I am often not allowed to express. I listen to music whenever I get the chance, and if I feel any emotion to an intense degree and need to regulate that, I can always just put on one of my favourite songs, or sing something, or play my guitar, or write a song.

Self regulating can help autistic people prevent things like meltdowns or shutdowns. While we can't always avoid those things, especially depending on the situation we're in, it can make it easier to reduce them in the long run if we know how to deal with our emotions.