Is flapping unique to autism?

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By which I mean regular hand or arm flapping.
There are many reasons why I think I may be an aspie, and in self-doubt / lack of awareness over the years I have tried to explain away most of these, but flapping is one thing that I haven't been able to dismiss.
I wave my arms around and flap my hands compulsively in private, normally when I'm thinking about what to do next and in what order or replaying events in my head. I normally don't register it's happening - only if something interrupts and I have to stop suddenly.
In the office I leg-bounce or swing side-to-side on the swivel chair instead.
Feel free to share your flapping experiences! I'd like to know I'm not alone.

Not really.

Actually I'm going to edit my post and make a thread about it, don't think what I said is applicable.

Even NTs stim. We all stim. Just as we all dream.

The real question is, do I feel I "must" stim?

The "how" of stimming is irrelevant.

I stim by grinding my teeth to the music in my head. That stim is for me co-equal to a stim of banging my head against the wall.

Final observation: I do not know the real question you are asking. If you want us to tell you that you are autistic like us, then I have no words for you. I am confused about this entire thread.

My brother does it - he's intellectually disabled, but didn't fit all the criteria for low-functioning autism as he's too verbal. I don't do any of it because I don't feel the need to and am very self conscious.

Blind children flap.
Very young neurotypical children flap too.
Teenage girls flap when they're excited

I dunno. Because I have a few autistic friends, we all start flapping our hands if we get excited.

I've only ever known people on the spectrum to flap their arms. But I'll bet its just some kind of emotional overload.

It's a high-energy form of emotional expression. I don't think it's overload, though. I only flap when I'm thinking pretty hard. Sometimes it's because I'm thinking hard about something interesting or exciting; sometimes it's because I'm trying to catch my train of thought and remember what I was supposed to be doing. Sometimes it happens when I've gotten stuck, mentally.

Flapping isn't something I do when I'm about to go into meltdown, though. Usually, when that happens, my body seems to become more sensitive to everything around, and I'm trying to shut out sensory input. Flapping creates sensory input and would just make things worse.

So yeah, if I'm flapping my hands, I might be thinking hard or stuck on something; I'm not particularly calm, but I'm probably not in severe overload, and I'm more likely to be interested or pleased with something. It's a high-energy thing, and when I'm in a high-energy state like that it's entirely possible that a sensory shock (a honking car horn, for example) might send me into immediate shutdown; but that's only because a state of mental excitement makes me more vulnerable to that kind of thing.

Yes, NT children flap their hands. So do NT adults when they are extremely excited and happy. Someone whose boy/girlfriend has just proposed to them, or someone who has just won the lottery, or someone who has just found out they are going to have a much-desired baby, is quite likely to flap their hands and bounce, especially if they are the sort of person who expresses emotion physically.

I can't say whether flapping is entirely unique to autism, though I suspect not, in spite of never having seen an NT do it. Callista is correct about the high-energy form of emotional expression, which is the primary use aspies have for it in my experience. I do use it when I'm reaching meltdown point, because instead of ramping up my energy, it tapers it off, like a pressure valve. It's the equivalent of "running off steam" in an attempt to wear onerself into a state of decreased energy. On another note, I would like to apologise for the rather brusque and abrupt greeting you received and say welcome to WP, we hope you stick around

I went to school with autistic kids up to the 7th grade and the only ones I can
think of who did flapping, if i understand what that is right, were little kids or kids
that had very severe autism and still acted like little kids. Ive never seen, that i remember,
a high functioning older kid doing that in a way that was particularly noticeable.
I watched a few videos on YouTube and there were some really well spoken grounded
people talking about their hand flapping, and to be quite honest I had a hard time buying
into it. I think some people (not directing this at the op) feel like they have to have some kind
of outstanding characteristic to assure themselves that they are on the spectrum.
"i do this thing, so i must be on the spectrum". Or "since i am on the spectrum and i
read this is what autistic people do, i think i must do it too".

Not only autistics do that. People with ADHD do that as well.

I mean i think it happens to a certain extent.
But what i am thinking of is when it goes on all the the time.
Like anytime there is anything that stimulates or aggravates.
kind of like a dog responds to stuff by wagging its tail - and
i mean a lot all of the time over just about anything. i guess
thinking about it more, i might do it some when im super
excited or starting to meltdown. but its not much and not often.

I have been hand flapping since being a toddler...mainly when excited or happy. Now, do also when really upset or whenever.