"socially acceptable" stims

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Oh my gosh, my life is nothing but stims!

Cleaning and playing my Nintendo DS, those are one of my stims and they are acceptable.

Walking.

Pencil chewing or pen chewing (is that acceptable?)

Pacing (though that drove people crazy)

Hair twirling

Twisting my fingers (is that acceptable)

I clinch my fists too or used to

Staring at things like patterns or objects

Foot tapping and legs shaking (is that acceptable?)



I guess if an autistic person has acceptable stims and have no autistic ones, I guess they wouldn't be considered as having repetitive body movements unless it causes them an impairment such as how my pacing drove people crazy despite how normal that is. But if no one has a problem with your stims and just assumes you are nervous even though that isn't the case for you, I guess you still don't meet that part of the criteria since it's not an impairment. Am I right?

I also think an autistic person can have normal stims and still be unacceptable because of how they do it. There should be such thing as "it's not what you are doing, it's how you do it."

Yes, some stims can be socially acceptable. NTs don't just sit or stand stock still like statues. That is very emotionless and expressionless (and NTs are meant to be the ones with more natural emotion expression, remember!) When people are waiting, they kind of tap their finger on a surface, or tap their foot gently or something. I've seen lots of people do that. And when people are speaking to eachother, I often see them have their hands together and are moving their fingers, or gently rubbing their fingers across the other hand, etc.

These are all stims of some kind. They're not, like, spasticated sort of stims. But they're still a kind of stim people use. Dancing to music can be a stim, and I know lots of people who jig to music when at home.

Necrobump!
One of my favorites is wiggling the little toes of my left foot and right foot alternately, to the beat of some music that I'm hearing in my head. Very socially acceptable, as nobody can see it - well, until summer came around and I wore sandals! I got told "your toes are so FUNNY!" - thankfully it was said in a nice and loving way

I saw this item on a youtube video about a shop outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota called "The Autism Shop."



Inconspicuous, but readily available. Awesome!" - Denise Kania, OTR/L

At last - a brilliantly-designed fidget for older kids and adults! The Roller Fidget features a shielded ball-bearing spinner attached to a 3 1/4" smooth acrylic base that fits right into the palm of your hand. The combination of the smooth acrylic surface and the rolling end piece makes it nearly impossible to put this winning design down.

The eye screw on the bottom allows you to easily attach the Roller Fidget to a keychain, carabiner, backpack, notebook, or belt loop. Or just leave it in your pocket and reach in to give it a twist or a spin.

Bonus: Rolling the acrylic base along the flat surface of a colorful object creates great visual effects!

Super Bonus: Made in the USA with consultation and advice from one of our favorite teenage customers.

http://www.autismshop.com/games-playthings/roller-fidget.html


They do have a website and if they will send it to me on my little Island - I hope to order a couple. So far any stress balls I have gotten broke on me within a few days to a few weeks.

I think holding my hands and fingers or having my arms crossed when standing isn't too egregious. I do tap my index and middle finger on my thumb, other hand/wrist, or opposite shoulder. I also wiggle my toes. Most of those don't seem to be too far off of what everyone does. People do things like tap their foot, click and twirl their pen, and shake their leg all the time.

I think the main difference for me is that I can't really talk to someone without establishing some form of contact with my own body.