Light it up Gold - 2015
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Autistic senses are well-known to be unusual.
Sensory sensitivity is common - a gentle touch can be painful, as can the wrong kind of light or sounds.
This sensitivity is the source of much of the behaviour that is highlighted as unnatural and almost inhuman - avoidance, upset, flinching, even hitting out in retaliation.
But that behaviour is actually very natural and very human.
Everyone will avoid unpleasant experiences, cry out when in pain, and when the misery is unrelenting will strike back in response to injury.
Trying to train people to endure hurt is hardly a solution.
Helping provide a quieter, gentler world instead shows love, empathy, and a consideration for fellow humans.
But sensitivity is not all painful. it is also exquisite, joyful, and subtle in ways that non-autistics find difficult to even imagine.
When you stop, listen, and think about the possibilities presented by people with abilities that seem to be from a superhero comicbook, the world becomes a place of thrilling possibilities:
Knowing the difference between different colours from how the feel on skin, feeling electromagnetic fields, hearing impossibly tiny sounds, lightning reflexes...
That sensory sensitivity is extreme - a word that describes autistic senses well - but there are extremes at both ends of any scale.
The ability to endure pain that would leave a non-autistic incapacitated is also exceptionally common.
Again, think about the possibilities... and how this ability to endure perhaps links directly to living each day with senses assaulted by the uncaring brashness of the modern world.
We ask: how much better would the world be if the non-autistic community had a little sense, showed some sensitivity?
Wouldn't the world be a better, kinder, more exciting place if autistic capabilities were honoured, celebrated and cherished as advantages rather than barriers?
Light it up GOLD for Autistic senses and sensitivities
#LightItUpGoldAu
Sensory sensitivity is common - a gentle touch can be painful, as can the wrong kind of light or sounds.
This sensitivity is the source of much of the behaviour that is highlighted as unnatural and almost inhuman - avoidance, upset, flinching, even hitting out in retaliation.
But that behaviour is actually very natural and very human.
Everyone will avoid unpleasant experiences, cry out when in pain, and when the misery is unrelenting will strike back in response to injury.
Trying to train people to endure hurt is hardly a solution.
Helping provide a quieter, gentler world instead shows love, empathy, and a consideration for fellow humans.
But sensitivity is not all painful. it is also exquisite, joyful, and subtle in ways that non-autistics find difficult to even imagine.
When you stop, listen, and think about the possibilities presented by people with abilities that seem to be from a superhero comicbook, the world becomes a place of thrilling possibilities:
Knowing the difference between different colours from how the feel on skin, feeling electromagnetic fields, hearing impossibly tiny sounds, lightning reflexes...
That sensory sensitivity is extreme - a word that describes autistic senses well - but there are extremes at both ends of any scale.
The ability to endure pain that would leave a non-autistic incapacitated is also exceptionally common.
Again, think about the possibilities... and how this ability to endure perhaps links directly to living each day with senses assaulted by the uncaring brashness of the modern world.
We ask: how much better would the world be if the non-autistic community had a little sense, showed some sensitivity?
Wouldn't the world be a better, kinder, more exciting place if autistic capabilities were honoured, celebrated and cherished as advantages rather than barriers?
Light it up GOLD for Autistic senses and sensitivities
#LightItUpGoldAu
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