Do you have problems with proprioception (body awareness)?

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Jetson wrote:

I think that test is more accurate for those who only have incredibly SEVERE proprioception problems. Because I do have such problems and am usually fine with finding my nose blind-folded, etc.. Same as some others have said on here.

I would agree: the test is probably useless without other tests to go along with it. Cause even though I can find my nose, I still get food all over my shirt when I am eating. (Maybe the test should ask a person to find their MOUTH instead of their nose, lol.)

I am clumsy.
If I am focused, I am not.

I also tap walls. Otherwise I run into them at the corners.
I have good spacial skills, otherwise I would be a walking wreck. I think the difference between me and NTs is that they do this inside their heads, that is, know where their bodies are. I do it from outside my head, so working my body is more like driving a car.

If I am aware, my gait is O.K.
If I am not driving my body, then people say I have an odd gait.
I can touch my nose with my eyes closed, but I too miss my mouth all the time when eating, sometimes comically - I put something in my mouth, start chewing, and realize it's not there. It's on my shirt. I often find lots of things on my shirt from eating. I usually eat with a t-shirt over my clothes, or I go into driving mode. I also often have trouble knowing where my teeth are vs my tongue and cheeks. So I bite myself a lot if I'm not concentrating when I eat.

I have been trying since I started writing this, and have so far been unable to touch my earlobes with my eyes closed.

I get up from the table and don't realize I am too close and I knock the table. Or I sit down in the chair and it's not there.

BTW, I have celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and when I have been exposed to wheat or some other source of gluten, these symptoms are much worse.
Not enough to keep me inside, though I do avoid eating out.

I keep walking into walls. I even walked into a wall in my dream the other night.

Oh yeah, i have all that, although i dont consider the feeling that i dont have a leg very horrifying. If i woke up to one day find out a limb was actually missing i would immediately think "Did i drink last night?" but not much besides that.

I seem to have variable proprioception. (Gee, like that's news that I have variable anything.) And I never perceive more than a small portion of my body at once. That small portion I may be able to perceive and move around okay, but the minute I go to some other body part, then I lose the first one. So I can usually pass a proprioception test if it doesn't require too much of my body to be perceived at once or too rapidly.

Then there are the times when I have no sense of my body's position, which often coincides with not moving, or moving only in involuntary ways. (My service cat notices this and starts poking, nudging, nipping, and walking over various body parts rapidly until I can feel and move them again. A lot of people don't believe me, especially because she's fairly aloof even for a cat, until they see her do it. Also humans can learn to do it, but it's difficult to train them.)

Awwwwwwww. You have a service cat? What's her name?

Babka. She is pictured here with me when she was little:

http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/AuSpin/amanda1.htm

Well I'll be horn-swaggled. I've seen you on the Autty Adults Pic Project! Babka is adorable.

S'me (without any of my cats):
http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/AuSpin/emily1.htm

Is it an aspie thing, or just a human being thing?

I find yoga and deep breathing techniques help establish awareness of my body. I have problems with Kung Fu practice, b/c of my proprioception issues. My instructors are very patient with me and help me mirror them.

Tallgirl.

tom, assuming you mean the subject of this thread: it is a neurological disorders thing generally speaking, Aspergers being included on the list.

When I was younger, I was rarely aware of the fact that I existed on a physical level except for when it became necessary to manipulate the physical world around me (i.e. write my name with a pencil, walk, etc.). Also, I notice that if I have stopped thinking about something I had in my hand, I don't feel it, and often I'll walk and realize that a pen or a book I was carrying has fallen, even though I'd forgotten that I'd carried it. It's almost like a weird, quantum glitch that causes my various limbs and even eyes or whole body to not exist unless I think of them.

Hello, me again. It's funny with me, though, because I can easily remember the shapes of maps and when to turn which way and exactly how many miles, but navigating on foot without being guided is a guarantee to get lost, unless I've walked the same path for a few years.

I sleep that way...even as I go to bed...

I'm always walking into doorframes and I cannot dance to save my life.

I think I have issues with proprioception.
I am always walking into doorframes and bumping into the corners of tables and benches, which is painful. I went out to the kitchen to get a drink a few minutes ago and hit my hand on a chair. When I eat, I usually drop some food on myself. If I am drinking soup I get wet patches all over the placemat and tablecloth. When I go into a dark room, I have to turn the light on so that I'm not stumbling around. However, I can walk around quite stably with my eyes shut.
When I'm walking down a flight of stairs, I need to hold onto the handrail otherwise I lose all sense of where my feet are.
The other day in my conducting class I forgot where I had my left arm and had to look for it.
In my drama class in high school the teacher made fun of the way I was waving my arms around. I was very annoyed and embarrassed because I hadn't been aware that I was doing it- as far as I knew, my arms were by my sides unless I was gesturing.

I find my way around by my legs remembering where they've been. This doesn't seem to fit in with the difficulties in knowing where my body parts are. It could be that I have a good memory for where my whole body has been, but a poor sense of what each of the individual parts is doing.