#autistic stims

[dogman-and-peteys-datemate]

handy (htf) stimboard, with autistic + disability pride themed stims!

genuinely had no idea it was autistic pride day until @/autiebiographical made a post abt it (to which u should totally check them out if you aren't following them, they're supa cool). and i was like SAY WHAAAATTT NO WAY (⁠☉⁠｡⁠☉⁠)⁠! how did my dumbass NOT know abt this? anyway take a rushed stimboard featuring my personal autistic handy hc. i tried including stims/gifs that i thought fit him, or that he would like ig? idk live laugh love, he's the bad bitch i pulled by being audhd /silly /ref

♾️ ⚫ ⭐ / ⛏️ 🧡 🌌 / 🏗️ ♾️ ♾️

[autisticdreamdrop]

we need to stim a LOT. we are stimming constantly. We stim in private and in public. we try to do quieter stims around family because they don't understand our autism. around our friends and mental health team we stim a LOT. they make us feel less weird about it. normalize stimming in public. im no danger, i'm stimming.

[sicksadstar]

autistic system stimming 1

here's video of us stimmingthat's all.links - https://germcore.carrd.co

[talesofanautisticwoman]

stims

Walking/being the passenger princess while listening to music is so stimmy. esp when i have found a song i listen to on repeat. It's one of my favourite stims!! It makes me so happy and it helps me regulate my emotions when everything becomes too much

Question: What are your to go to stims? and how does it help you during your everyday life (if it does)

[autistic-characters]

Sometimes stimming is rocking back and forth or flapping your hands, and sometimes stimming is curling up in bed under your favorite blanket and listening to music. However you stim, you are valid!

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

Y’all.

Something cool happened today.

We were stimming openly in public.

That may seem like a little thing, but...

I’m talked about //those// stims. The ones people stare at you for. The flapping hands, bouncy toes, rocking back n forth, shaking your head super hard because the buzzy feel is Good™, wiggly, rubbing a Good™ texture (for us, is very soft n fuzzy fabric, silky/like kitty fur) with hands & sometimes on face (cheeks), singing aloud...

The stims people judge ADHD & autistic people for the most.

We have (both diagnosed) Social Anxiety Disorder //and// Generalized Anxiety Disorder (yay trauma (/sarcastic)). We get uncomfy being stared at.

Normally we contain those stims. We pace, we fidget with our phone, maybe dare to play with a fidget cube. Maybe we lightly fidget with soft fabric (we have a small patch of fuzzy blue fabric) hidden in our pocket. But that’s it. We never dare to be more obvious.

We went out & walked to a bus stop, went & bought a sammich (cheap safe food - used funds sent by a fellow Tumblr user), rode the bus back & walked home.

But normally, when we wait at the bus stop, we’re very quiet & forcedly still. Today, we were actually stimming openly.

Part of it probably had to do with the fact that it’s now cold so flappy hands can be passed off as our hands (genuinely) went numb & needed blood flow, but....we didn’t stop once we could feel our hands. We let ourself get wiggly.

This probably sounds like a very small thing to anyone who doesn’t need to stim as much (neurotypicals, possibly some neurodivergent people), but we’ve repressed our stims for ~22 years (& I mean, we turn 22 in 18 days....a little over 2 weeks) - this is huge.

We could barely fidget in classes. We couldn’t handle being stared at.

For ~7-9 years (roughly since we were 13-15), we’ve repressed 99% of our stims. And we’ve suffered for it. The burnout, the exhaustion, the distress of being unable to release energy/emotion....

We’ve been actively trying to accept we’re allowed to be ADHD & autistic for ~2-3 years now. Fighting the internalized ableism, fighting the urge to repress, fighting the fear of being stared at.

This is //the first time// we have ever stimmed like that in public.

Those are stims we reserve for being alone in our room....even since we started actively fighting to accept them. We couldn’t let them happen in front of literally anyone else. Too anxious, too self-conscious.

Today marked a huge step forward in self acceptance.

We not only didn’t fight the stims, we encouraged them when anxiety said to hesitate. We encouraged ourselves to go ahead even when people were staring.

And I’m so proud. It’s a single step on a long journey...but it’s a big one. It’s the first time we’ve ever let that happen, let alone encouraged it. 🥺

We’re healing. Slowly, but it’s happening. We’re winning all of our internal (mental & emotional) wars.

There isn’t exactly a huge revelation or anything to this - I just really wanted to share. 🥺🥰

~Nico

(he/they)

[intersexcutie]

i got a plastic bin at the dollar store today and i made it into a sensory box

it’s full of my favourite stims

i’m thinking of making a video of what is in it

[real-talk-time2004]

I wanna talk about stims

Like can we talk about stims for a quick moment?

First off, what is a stim? By definition it’s referred to as “self stimulating behaviors, usually involving repetitive movements or sounds”.

Stims have a wide variety of choices depending on what people normally do, it’s not a definite autistic trait however most autistics do use stimming as a form of self calming or soothing.

However stimming can mean something else entirely, just because you stim does not mean you are autistic, there can be a variety of reasons why you stim. For example, you could just generally feel anxious or nervous, you could have restlessness, or you are just very energized.

There are a bunch of different kinds of stims too. The most common are nail biting, hair twirling, cracking knuckles or other joints, drumming your fingers, tapping a pen or pencil, jiggling your foot, tongue clicking or even whistling.

However there are also some more extreme stims such as head banging, like against an actual object, or biting whether it be on an object or a person. These stims are very prominent in young kids with adhd or autism.

Now there are some less severe but also not as common stims (some of which I didn’t even know until I looked this up) which could be rocking yourself back and forth, pulling hair, repetitive blinking, rearranging or moving things, scratching or rubbing your skin, licking objects, staring at moving fans or any other rotating object, flicking or snapping your hands and fingers, repeating words or phrases excessively, and smelling objects or people.

I know. Crazy right?

Now all of these stims you may have done at least a few times in your life, but not all of them relate to autism. The common stims are very prominent in neurotypical people and neurodivergent people. So stimming is not a for sure way of diagnosing your autism or not, however it’s always a start or a place to come back to that creates the foundation of autism.

Here are some examples of my stims as a self diagnosed autistic teen:

Repetitive blinking (I literally did not know this was an autistic thing I did until I looked it up and it blew my mind)

Repetitive noises (I make weird little grunts that sound like I’m clearing my throat and it drives my family insane)

Chewing pens and pencils (always gotta have something in my mouth)

Rocking

Twirling hair

Messing with the strands on my jackets. You know those things on the hoodie that you can pull and the hood gets smaller; I literally cannot stop rolling those strings up as I sit in class it’s become a habit now

Scratching/rubbing my skin (specially face)

Picking at scabs

Biting and punching (this is usually when I’m very overwhelmed and stressed. Kinda like when a child had a tantrum; this is what I do)

Cracking knuckles

Drumming fingers

Jiggling my foot

Nail biting

As I was writing this list I realized how much I do dear lord.

Anyways

Stimming does not always equal neurodivergent or neurotypical, there’s a wide variety of stims and reasons for stimming.

If you are struggling with self diagnosing I would look at a variety of symptoms that autistic people have

And here’s a tip for you

If you’re realizing your autistic later in your life, it means you’re doing something called masking or camouflaging (I’ll explain this in my next post). In the meantime, do some research. I’ll try to help out as many of you as a can but doing your own research for your own symptoms really does help.

Stay safe

-Kay