Your Favourite Autism Product

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That's really cool Knofskia, I want to apply for an autism service dog too. I've been waiting until I moved out of my parents house, which is finally going to happen in the next couple of months or so. I want mine to help with navigation, deep pressure, self-harming redirection, and creating a "block" against crowds. Do you ever find that having your dog with you is more stressful than helpful, like in situations where people try to deny you access or want to talk to you or pet the dog, etc.? That's something I've been wondering a lot about as I consider all the pros and cons of getting a service animal.

Thanks for the suggestions. I decided to order a set of four that comes with one of each type (regular, textured, fuzzy, and metallic). Hopefully I'll like at least one of them.

I don't use any autism sensory products anymore, and I've never had any of my own. But in primary school, the teachers used to put one of those deep pressure sensory vests on me to help me calm from a meltdown. I found the hugging sensation of it around me very soothing.
I remember using those Tangle toy things in class when I was little as well

Unrelated but I have to say that I love your signature, Leahcar.

I agree, using a service dog can be pretty stressful:

• It takes more work to get ready to go out. If you have difficulty remembering your phone, wallet, or keys, now you have to remember leash, vest/harness/backpack, food bag, water bowl, poop bags, cleaning wipes, towel, weather protection. None of this is required by law, except maybe leash; different teams use different gear; and you will learn what you really need to bring and what can stay home.

• Service dogs require more grooming to go out in public. In order to be presentable out in public, service dogs need to be bathed, brushed, and nails trimmed more often than most pet dogs are. And after being in certain public places, you may want to bathe your dog again; ew! But some dog breeds are easier to groom than others.

• Service dogs require more training to behave out in public. A service dog's training takes around 2 years to complete. And even if you get a fully trained program dog, training never stops; disuse of a task due to using other mitigating tools, downtime due to extended illness or injury, spoiling by well-meaning family or strangers, can all lead a dog to forget its training. But, wow, is the training worth it!

• You have to deal with some ignorant or aggressive gatekeepers. Learn the laws and your rights for your area (Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Housing Act, Air Carrier Access Act, and any state laws). You can print out cards about the ADA to hand out to gatekeepers, and letters about your need for accommodation in housing (if you rent) or work (if you do). P.S. There is no identification, certification, or other documentation required or recognized by law (except for letters requesting reasonable accommodation for housing or work, and letters prescribing Psychiatric Service Dogs or Emotional Support Animals to fly with the handler). But some areas are better informed and behaved than others.

• You have to deal with some people who love or hate your dog too much. You may have to deal with all kinds of people, from people who want to spoil all of the training out of your service dog, people who let their untrained pets distract or attack your service dog, to people who distract or attack your service dog themselves.

But you may not have to deal with all of these and they may not be as bad for you. I did not personally experience the last two.

Thanks for the info Knofskia, that's very helpful! Confrontations with others are my biggest concern about the idea; arguing with strangers is very stressful!

Although not strictly an autism product, I nominate my reclining rocking chair. Rocking while watching TV or reading is soothing.

I must look into noise-cancelling products and weighted blankets when I have some money.

I love rocking chairs too. The only problem is, I get motion sick on them very easily. Swings too, which is a shame because I love swinging.

So I ended up getting the variety pack:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003D7XO3M/

So far, I like all of them but I think the "fuzzy" is my favorite. It's so soft. Not surprisingly, the "metallic" one is just silver painted plastic. It's also the loosest one in the set. It doesn't really hold its form at all. Anyway, thanks for the recommendations. I like all of these WAY more than the one with the "rubberized" texture.

Roundabouts are my bête noire (I feel sick to my stomach on them) although I'm not fond of swings either.

There are many products that are not made for autistics, but seriously could have been.
to name a few:
-The internets (it's a series of tubes), probably also designed by borderline autistics.
-Wikipedia
-Free porn sites (for reasons that that can't be mentioned here, because they reminds me of my sexless life)
-Blender.org
-Software warez sites (for reasons that shouldn't be mentioned here, I also like to collecting stuff)
-Soldering guns that run on lighter gas (just because they are so damn cool)
-Any sort of LEDs, ain't LEDs just cool? do you remind when the blue ones hit the market? man!
-Any sort of light source for that matter("sir, that looks like 6500k, i want 6000k, the labeling is wrong)
-DIY reprap 3D-printer kits
-Burning sand (the game)
-Old video game console simulators and DosBox

I'm sorry you can't enjoy rocking chairs and swings so much because of motion sickness. They're great. My dad rigged me a swing in a tree in our backyard when I was small, using some rope and a plank of wood for the seat. I spent hours on it. I'd swing back and forth, and also wind up the ropes suspending the seat into one tight rope, then lift my feet off the ground so that I'd spin. I didn't realise it was probably autistic stimming behaviour until many years later.

I'd love to have another swing.

Again I'm sure not designed for autistics but before we had good headphones I relied heavily on a worry stone. I could focus all my attention on the texture and rubbing it felt pleasant.

This is only tangentially related, but when I was a young boy (this was in the mid to tale '60s) I had to sleep with something smooth in my hand. I would always take an object (it was different every night) and say, "Mom, is this smooth?"

Not sure why I didn't think I could work out for myself what was and wasn't smooth.

I know what you mean. As I said, I did not experience it much myself, but I did see it happen to another service dog team whom I was with. The confrontations made me panic, even though they had absolutely nothing to do with me. Luckily, the service dog handler loves to argue disability rights and has always been able to eventually educate the offenders. Luckily, we did not always encounter this, because, even after these successful confrontations, it still made me panic.

Pretty sure I saw a thread where people were discussing some of their odd behaviors, I don't think this is too strange as far as we're concerned.