Do you have problems with proprioception (body awareness)?

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Come to think of it, that's the way I learn best as well. I was just saying, having verbal instructions helps more than visual mirroring alone... but yeah, the best thing for me is to actually be coached through doing whatever it is.

Hm, that sounds a lot like me. I bump into doorjambs, bump into walls when I'm turning corners... I've also mentioned my poor depth perception in the driving thread, I think. And I get dizzy quite frequently as well.

And I'm bad with walking down stairs too. Don't have much of a problem walking up them, because the stairs are there in the way to prevent any misjudgment-- but walking down, I always have to look at my feet to make sure I'm stepping in the right place.

I don't think I ever had a watch that did not have scratches and/or paint chips on it. Its weird to find someone else that had that judgement mishap problem. Like his "Ugly Duckling" tale, he often stood up for the outcast in his works. (Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea, Emperor's New Suit, Thumbelina, the Snow Queen).

I think I was worse off overall when I was younger. I used to identify with Hans Christian Andersen, both the real guy, stories about him, by him, and the Danny Kaye movie. He wrote "Ugly Duckling" among other stories by the way. He was known as tall and gangly and clumsy.

I suspect he may have had an ASD too.

Last edited by Epimonandas on 04 Jan 2005, 12:57 am, edited 2 times in total.

Hah, I have that problem as well! My watches always end up with scratches all over the faceplate. And then are the unexplained bruises all over, where I have absolutely no clue how they got there... and the random stains on my clothes...

depends on what type of Learner you are - Sensates learn by doing things. i am quite Sensate (although predominantly a Thinker, with a hefty dose of Intuit chucked in - very little Empath, shock!).

i also have a kinaesthetic memory, which means i remember things depending on my physical position at the time - giving directions (unless i'm actually there) can be difficult for me. i once remembered all the CDs i'd lost after a burglary by remembering where they were on the shelves, and did this by imagining myself reaching out to take one from its place.

as a child (and still now, in fact), i relied on senses other than sight to perceive the word around me. i still prefer to cross a road by listening for traffic, rather than looking (and my hearing is superlative - ask the kids i teach!)

the whole body awareness thing is what alerted me to the fact that my ex has AS - he's an athlete, and yet has an incredibly stiff gait, is very heavy on his feet, and has little awareness of what parts of his body are doing at the time - he was giving me a shoulder massge once, and had his elbows rammed into my kidneys (AND got into a strop when i complained, gently). amazing that this was was told me, rather than the more "obvious" traits.

i am quite graceful, apparently, although i do tend to fall over a bit, and into things, but i've always thought this was because i have both low blood pressure, and a tendency to be thinking about other things all the time. and i've had dance training, so i'm pretty aware of my body through that. i'm Ms Clumsy when i've got PMS, though.

anyone who's got massive difficulties with this ... perhaps Tai Chi or something similar might be an idea?

In general I don't have any real problems with proprioception, but I am rather clumsy. I too can walk into door frames and I frequently spill or splash stuff when eating, no matter how careful I try to be!
But I do remember one odd incident, when I was ill in bed with a fever; I suddenly realised I did not know where my right arm was (unlike my left arm, I couldnt see my right arm as it was underneath the duvet). To be more specific, I felt as though my right arm was both lying flat beside my body and simultaneously was bent and lying across my body, resting on my stomach. Yup, it really felt as though I had two right arms! I remember this amused me more than alarming me (I realised it was probably due to me being feverish) and I tried hard, without moving, to decide which arm was "real". This was impossible. In the end I deleberately moved my arm; and lo, the one across my body disappeared. My ' real ' arm moved; it was the one beside my body.

"My legs are drifting off into the sunset ... my left arm's come off too." A frightening thought struck him: "Hell," he said, "how am I going to operate my digital watch now?"

Same here. I developed a "tap test" while I was working in the darkroom for my photo class, because there was a sharp corner that I was always bumping into. I just reach out my arm and tap the corner lightly with my knuckle as I walk by, and that keeps me from bumping straight into it.



So do I. I suppose that's why I get so upset when my stuff gets moved around, or my parents rearrange the furniture. My room stays the same, and when my mom tries to change it, I always force her to put it back the way it was. I remember when I was in elementary school that I got physically dizzy once because my parents had rearranged the furniture while I was at school to make room for the x-mas tree. I don't have as much of a problem as I used to, though.

You too?! I thought I was the only one who did this! People always look at me strangely when I mention to them that I listen for traffic rather than watching for it...

It's weird... I'm better at getting nonverbal information through senses besides the visual, but I'm better at understanding verbal input visually rather than aurally. My sensory processing is just messed up.

I'm very clumbsy. I'm constantly bangning into or dropping things. I try not to think about it. I'd hate to see how I'd make out behind the Driver's Wheel of a Car.

Wow.

I pace. I cannot stand in one position. In elevators, I will walk in circles from the time the door closes till I get to my floor.

I sit on my hands, I cross my arms and legs. I have to sit cross-legged. In school with the desks that were attached to the chairs, I would cross my legs so that my knee would be above desk-level and then I would lean forward to do my work, basically squeezing my entire body.

I CONSTANTLY am fiddling with things in my hands. I do a lot of training conference calls, and I have a really long phone cord with a headset. So, I tend to pace about 20 feet back and forth from my desk. The entire time, I play with my slinky. Actually I have about 5 slinkys. I used the first one so much it got weak and shattered, so my co-workers bought me several.

Rubbing hands, legs, rocking, etc. I CANNOT stay still. Thats not to say that I can't sit in a chair, it just means I am moving some part of my body.

I am clumsy too. When I was visiting my friend's grandmother recently I dropped and shattered a clock, and then I bumped into a coat rack on the wall and broke one of the hooks. I am a walking disaster! But I drive my car just fine, and have nearly 100,000 miles under my belt.

LOL Magic! I have always had a poor sense of my own body space, and frequently injure myself on fixed objects (but usually painfully enough not to have to play 'name that bruise' often), I knock loads of stuff over, kick/spill/tread on/trip over things regularly, and tend to stay away from breakable things as, erm, I break them....
Apart from my balance I don't feel especially uncoordinated, I have fairly good motor control and can use tools etc without much trouble, I just don't seem to able to move without bouncing off things.
Despite this I am a pretty good driver, I can tell where the parameters of the vehicle I am driving are far better than my own body fortunately (and the car doesnt lose its balance, heh)

Dunc

I don't know how coordinated I am compared to the average human, but I know I like to avoid breakable or fragile things too.

i could write an essay on this subject.

from my experience, i've noticed that many aspies have Depersonalization, or Depersonalization disorder. I have this, along with DDNOS

[Depersonalization Disorder: marked by a feeling of detachment or distance from one's own experience, body, or self. These feelings of depersonalization are recurrent. Of the dissociative disorders, depersonalization is the one most easily identified with by the general public; one can easily relate to feeling as they in a dream, or being "spaced out." Feeling out of control of one's actions and movements is something that people describe when intoxicated. An individual with depersonalization disorder has this experience so frequently and so severely that it interrupts his or her functioning and experience. A person's experience with depersonalization can be so severe that he or she believes the external world is unreal or distorted.

I think there might be a connection between DP and AS.

can you relate to that? because i certainly can.

I do some of these things. I don't cross my legs, but I generally sit on them. Plus I like to put my arms behind my head. But mostly I tend to bump into walls, my hands get all knicked up from the latches on doors.

I am also very clumsy. I trip all the time. I fall going up and down stairs. Drop things, spill things while eating... oh its always a big hootenanny when people observe me doing my day to day tasks. It's usually a huge laugh when people watch me...

Oh well I can take it with good humor....