Bumping into things

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I recently was sitting on the floor and nearly ripped my big toenail off just from bumping one foot against the other foot while getting up. It was still partway stuck on but maybe about a month later it fell off. It is halfway grown back now.

My arms, legs, and hips are constantly covered in bruises, I bump into things that often. It is, as poster above said, very much as if I have a big magnet that pulls me into things even when I'm trying to avoid the obstacle.

Much of this happens to me, too. I also get strings of this. Last night I was getting a book for my sister to pass along to my niece and I bumped into my chest of drawers, computer desk, tripped over my computer chair, and repeated some of that on the way back out. I remember walking through the dining area with a good five feet or so of clear space, and yet managing to bump into both living room furniture and dining room chairs before getting to the kitchen.

Plus all those times I go to pick something up and knock it onto the floor instead. My personal favorite glass has survived so many falls onto a hard floor with nary a visible crack, but I expect the stress to shatter it eventually.

I always used to think I was not as clumsy as I was because I had a very good sense of balance and thus rarely fell down (three times that I can remember in the past 20 years - my cat tripped me once and then kept ending up underfoot while I was trying to catch my balance; I was walking a mild downhill slope on 1-2 inches of ice, a trip I made almost daily for the time the ice was there*; I slid down a set of very tiny steps).

But I trip a lot.

* This was right before Oregon and Washington became a federal emergency area when everything flooded and I-5 washed out in early 1996 or so. My landlord/housemate in the last place I lived had his swimming pool actually pop out of the ground during the flooding.

Doorknobs and my wrists have a thing for each other. As do coffee tables and my shins. And my head is madly in love with kitchen cabinet doors. I must assume so because of how it rushes to make contact whenever it sees one open.

Check out Irlen Syndrome. Its common with AS. I am constantly walking shoulder-first into door frames. I don't even really notice anymore.

I've always bumped into objects now and again.

The problem has gotten much worse though since I started walking around the house wearing reading glasses.

I realized my title was kind of awkward, so I changed it to 'bumping into things'. Though we do literally 'run over' stuff sometimes...

I'm one of the most clumsy people you've ever met, likely. I've been in ER more times I can remember, due to falling over or running into things. Actually I ran into a lamp-post earlier and bit my lip. Ouch

I don't feel that clumsy but I clip my shoulders on door frames and book cases and such. Sometimes I can lose my balance while not even doing anything but either kneeling on the ground or even standing around waiting and thinking (maybe I swayed or something).

My family used to think it was funny when they'd start talking about how when I'd fall I would not put hands out to brace myself. I guess I have a tendency to just go straight down if I fall.

Every day. I often hit my shoulder hard on a door frame when trying to walk through a doorway. How do you miss a door?

I was wondering what the scab on my head was. Now I've just remembered I bumped my head on a cupboard door a few weeks ago. Yes, I do this all the time. I've always got a bruise somewhere, often my hip, as I walk into the end of my bed a lot and I walk into doorframes too. I also misjudge where the bottom step is quite a lot and end up flying off the stairs.

So are you saying the clumsiness is because of vision impairment rather than balance?

No, not clumsiness in general, only specifically bumping into things. I am not a clumsy person, I have very good fine and gross motor skills --- But I am constantly side-swiping doorways. The symptoms include poor depth / distance perception, and I have this part as well as the reading difficulties.

Also, Irlen Syndrome is not a visual impairment as it is not an impairment of the eyes or the optic nerve, it is a neurological processing issue.

I was using visual impairment rather loosely, but I see what you mean. I have a problem I think with Irlen's Syndrome. The white of the page seems too bright and I also see the white spaces in a paragraph as curvy lines running down. I also had amblyopia as a child (which apparently shows up often in people with an asd) and that is also neurological. My depth perception isn't great.

I'm really clumsy, and frequently bump into things - and people if they're walking alongside me. I also trip over steps etc a lot (and sometimes fall over my own feet!). Luckily, I don't bruise easily - although I did once dislocate my little finger walking through a door.

I have a scar on one arm from bumping into something sharp (the bottom of a shelf thingy).

I've found that taking karate has greatly reduced my walking into things, though. Working at doing the complex movements, and developing the awareness to tell whether I'm doing them right or not, has made me more graceful. But I'm still pretty clumsy.