Family annoyed by my stim

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i tend to clap my hands loudly and repeatedly while stimming but my parents get upset and tell me to stop.

Go into your bedroom and close the door. Or go outside and do it in a secluded place. treat it is if you are practicing a musical instrument.

Can you explain to me why you clap loudly and repeatedly? My 5 yr. old daughter has hundreds of stims, clapping loudly and repeatedly is one of them and I totally don't understand why. What goes on in your head when you feel the urge to do it? Please explain the stims to me. My daughter also hums, holds her breath, wiggles her fingers in front of her face, claps, flaps, runs around-you name is she does it. I'd appreciate it if you explained it to me.
Thanks!

My stims are almost always spontaneous -- I don't plan or think about them.

I do them because they feel good. Usually they are a manifestation of emotion.

Your daughter sounds like her stims are demonstrating happiness. They may look odd, but if she's happy, that's a good thing.

Mine demonstrated fear and anxiety as a kid, from a young age. not noisy, not weird, just quietly picking at my skin, wringing my hands, retreating into an inner world. But I didn't think about them...unless someone made me feel bad because of them. They gave me a rush of positive emotions when I needed it, or expressed my stress so I could work it out of your system.

Your daughter sounds like she is happy and full of energy, and her stims are reflecting that. If so, you're lucky and so is she.

I just feel the urge to clap.

Unfortunately it's not only people on the spectrum who can get annoyed by sounds, sights, etc. If they're telling you to stop because it's grating to them, leave the room, change your stim, or tell them to leave the room (depending on what's going on...like if it's the room with the TV, the person watching the TV should be the person to stay.) If they're telling you because they find it disrespectful, weird, embarassing, etc, tell them, respectfully :-p, to shove it.

I tend to clap my hands quickly and repeatedly close to my chest when pleased about something, but not particularly loudly, and no one complains. Maybe its just the volume you could reduce, instead of either your family being annoyed or you being unable to stim?

I have the same exact stim. It really pisses my mom off when its the middle of the night and i clap loudly.