Autism and walmart?

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Im not sure what this is but when ever im in walmart the sounds around me bring me into this weird trance like thingy i cant stop looking up into the sky at nothing i look into the sky because the sounds are all around me and it kind of looks like im not there i have to watch were im going because there have been times were ive all most ran into something. Ill look at the floor and to the sides alot and sometimes the TVS that are big and right infront of me ill stop out of know were and just stare at it lisaning to the sound on it and colors. Sometimes ill stare at bright colors around me or people walking. It deffently looks like im not there sometimes. And im not sure if this is my autism because i know insteead of freaking out or hateing the sounds i love them. So im trying to understand if it is. btw: it sounds bad i dont think it is just i do it alot.

I have that happen in the big stores, but I cocoon myself in sunglass and iPod, nowadays, which reduces it. I think it's a sensory overload/processing thing. I.e. looking at the floor or ceiling reduces the amount of visual information to absorb, compared to looking straight ahead. And the same for zoning out on the TV's or getting really close to a colorful box and such.

That's interesting about that (and the sound of lots of people murmuring) being mesmerizing. I remember liking getting lost in that when I was a kid; just floating along with the flow of it. I don't dislike it now, but if I let myself drop into that state I end up wandering around the store for hours without getting what I went there to get, which is annoying in the end. I do kind of miss getting to do that, though. (It still happens some, despite my efforts, though.)

By anyway, I think that is an autistic thing.

For me at Walmart, the flourescent lighting, the tall shelves all stacked high, all the people...it's a total overload. I personally get overwhelmed when I shop there, and I do feel like I'm in a trance. I generally look at the ground when I walk because seeing EVERYTHING usually sends me towards a meltdown. My husband does most of our shopping...I RARELY leave a store with anything useful. LOL.

Hows it an overlode? if i like the sounds around me ?

from your post I will just warn you to never go anywhere near a casino.

Theres nothing like that around here but i have been in a place like that before when i was a kid and my eyes were all on other things around me i lovee sonds

I think "overload" doesn't always have to be unpleasant. I guess it depends on how you define it, though. To me, it's that "overload" (or the sensory processing (or whatever it is) that leads to it, more accurately) starts to push other kinds of thinking out of my head. So, if I don't need to be able to think/act in a certain way, and if it's not disorienting in an bad unpleasant way, then dropping into "sensory-only mode" (or whatever to call it) isn't bad.

Maybe, "sensory mode" or something would be a better term than "overload" for that.

I can't stand walmart. I can't stand the crowds and the noise. My thought broadcasting is worse there and I have no thoughts to myself. People are always in the way. To me it is a sensory overload in a bad way. Also I can't stand the long lines. I may be patient when building my airplanes but I just don't have time for to stand in line for an hour.

Every rime I go into Wal-Mart I get disoriented. It does feel like sensory overload. I think that a part of why I get overwhelmed in Wal-Mart is because each store is really big, and there's too much stimuli going on around me.

My daughter refuses to go to Walmart most of the time and she has Autism so i think it is a sensory overload. She doesn't mind other stores though so maybe it is all the noise and bright lights etc...

I entirely agree that hypersensitivity and overload (or sensory mode, if you prefer) are not necessarily bad things. I, for one, am hypersensitive to touch and love it. My fingertips are often so sensitive they're ticklish, but I have no averse reaction to it. The same can be said for those who are hypersensitive to sounds and light, I would be willing to bet.

As for that "sensory mode," I can go into a little when I let go, but I can usually resist, which is a really good thing since I work in a grocery store. It would be bad if I went into a trance at work all the time. As it is, it takes a really stressful day to get to me.

When I go to WalMart I go there to get one or two specific things. When I get there all I want to do is punch every slow moving pensioner in the back of the head for inconveniencing me.

Yep for me it's sensory overload too, the people the low humming noise of their conversations and movments, their constant bombardment of my personal space, the noise too that invades my personal space, it's like an assault on my senses.

Same. Whenever I'm there, I sort of get into this shutdown mode where I only focus on one particular object and start looking at it/touching it for a long time until someone else redirects me. I become distracted easily there and often get left behind.

I focus on exactly what it is I came to get. Get out of my way. Coming through!! Get in. Get out. Done. It makes my wife crazy.

Whenever I'm in a grocery or a Walmart I do have a tendency to suddenly space out and forget why I'm there and I'm suddenly walking around with my mind turned off. That's why you want to focus on getting what you're in for and get out quick. You won't how long you'll be in there spacing out instead of actually shopping.