strange phobias

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Have you ever seen George Romero's, "The Crazies"? Gas masks were used very effectively there, making it truly blurry as to just who the real monsters were.

A lot of other movies have used them much the same way since, but my favorite is the incredible secret suprise twist ending of Bruno Mattei's "Rats!" If you can make it all the way through the merciless 90 minutes of boredom, that ending will cure any and all gas-mask phobias. Heh, heh.

But seriously, there's something I've always hated about buttons too, so I was interested to learn that it could be a common aspie thing, and not just me.

I wouldn't call mine a "phobia" exactly. I thought that maybe it was because I like things to be smooth and uniform, and any flap that requires buttons breaks that aspect of clothing. Zippers are smooth though.

I think that I find body piercings repulsive for the same reason. I can undrstand a fascination with doing it, and how it could be seen as rebelious, but I don't see how anyone could find it sexy. The human body is a work of art, so why poke holes in it at random spots? I even feel this way about regular ear piercing. I could probably find a woman more attractive with mild facial scarring instead, seriously.

My fixation on having everything smooth and uniform probably ties into my fascination with Transformers, though it probably just means that I first liked Floro Dery's designs for the same reason of personal taste.

As for phobia...
A friend and I both have a fear of being in unfamiliar or dirty water, but mine centers around getting my feet entangled or stepping on something sharp, hence scorpionfsh and stonefish always scared the hell out of me. Since stingrays only have one sharp spine, they're OK. One time when I flipped out of a canoe in a river in the U.P., I found I was perfectly calm since I had my shoes on and my feet were protected.

I also have a fear of cotton being shredded on the rough edges of my teeth. If my dental floss frays, I have to get it out immediately.

I mentioned needles yesterday, but I do not think that is a weird one.

I'm not afraid of phones, but I would say that I hate them. This is one of my known oddities; I'm well known for outright refusing to use phones. A simple request to please give so and so a call and see if she is on her way is often met by a stark "No." on my part; my cryptic but passable explanation tends to be along the lines of, "I have issues with phones."

I think there is a reasonable psychological explanation for my dislike of phones, and it has to do with a couple of common AS traits.

First is that reading people is not intuitive for me (and for AS folks in general?); it is a carefully learned process, and it takes up quite a bit of mental processing power. I focus on the other person, read their expressions, body language, tone of voice, and so on, and quickly try to process all of this into information expressed through the so-called hidden curriculum. When using a phone, I cannot see the other person, and even tone of voice is mostly lost due to poor sound quality. All of my learned hidden curriculum processing becomes useless with a phone, speaking to a disembodied voice in a vacuum, which causes some mental discomfort as my processing wheels spin but there is nothing for them to make contact with; this is really very distracting.

Second is that inability to make small talk phenomenon that many AS folks seem afflicted by. Part of my problem with phones is that there is an inherent expectation of conversation, which creates an uncomfortable pressure of always needing to be talking if the other person isn't. If it's my turn to talk, I feel obliged to blurt out something, anything, and I hate having to do that. In person, I can find other ways to compensate; on a phone, all I can really use is what comes out of my mouth, and I dislike being beholden to such.

Couple these two things together, and phones become very uncomfortable things to use. I'm curious; does this explanation seem to work for anyone else here?

Good fortune,

- Icarus loves e-mail...

my phobias as a child was with sharp objects like knives and scissors. When my dad would ask me to get him a knife I would refuse. I also did not like having to throw logs into a fireplace. I'm over that now.

Now my phobias include large social enviroments, driving, flying on airplanes. Even though I have those fears I still do them. I don't freak out on the outside. I shut down all emotions.

I did recently within the past few years notice that I have been picking up on new adversions to sounds that I used to love. Clacking on the keyboard drives me nuts now. Usually if it's from a distance. When I was a kid though, I was obsessed with the sound of the keyboard.

I used to have a very strong phobia of mutation and birth defects. People with extra fingers, conjoined twins, or having duplicates or more of any organ or feature than you should have.

In an old copy of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, there was a drawing of a man who was born with two irises and pupils in each eye. That idea freaked me out to the point of cold sweats. And there was an episode of the Twilight Zone where this guy on TV shows a kid how to cast a spell on the family dog - the dog comes running out of the lounge room and the dad is petting it under the kitchen table, but the terrified dog now has four eyes instead of two.

My mother would surprise me with photos of conjoined babies in front of family or friends and laugh at how I'd start bawling and run off screaming. Mind you, she also called me in to watch the part in Jaws where the guy gets bitten in half when I was about six years old, just to laugh at me screaming in horror.

A weird thing about it was that when I had been shocked by these sorts of things, I couldn't touch another person's skin, as I'd feel like that person was the one with the mutation.

But now, the concept interests me rather than scares me. Somebody with well formed extra fingers is amazing to me and I'd have to ask if I could touch their hands and feel how the bones and muscles work - and what it would be like to have that, to knit your fingers, to make the shapes with our hands that we all make.

I have people-claustrophobia. I'm not the slightest bit afraid of tight spaces, but being trapped by people terrifies me. (This is difficult considering I have to use mass transit to get to work every day in Manhattan.)

When I'm in a crowd, I have to A) be up against a wall so that I'm not totally surrounded or B) be moving so that with every step I know I'm not trapped. A) means I HAVE to have window seats, even on my commuter train every day or I stress out the whole ride. To me the aisle is almost worse than the middle seat because everyone walking past I'm sure is going to bump me, or the person behind me grab a handful of my hair while yanking my headrest back to stand up.

Icarus
I don't like phones, either.
Neither does my somewhat-aspish husband.
When we need to call a business, we argue about who will do it.
We don't mind calling family.

I also do not use drive-thru windows.

same. Do you feel like you can't tell if the drive thru is wide enough for your car and can't tell if you are close enough to the window? That's why I don't like them. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm going to drive over the curb.

i always felt bad putting clothes in the laundry. i felt bad getting them wet

When I was younger, I had a phobia about speaking to clerks, cashiers, etc.
That's why I never learned to use a drive-through.
I no longer have that phobia, but now I feel I'm too old to learn to use the drive-through. If I mess up they'll wonder why a thirty year old woman can't line her car up right. Plus I'm used to parking and going in, so I don't really mind.

I had this one too. My Mom always had to speak for me up until highschool.

Im not afriad of it but I had a dream about falling up and I could actually feel what it was like in the dream, it was really weird and indeed I woke up quickly almost like it was a nightmare. Heh.

I HATE that feeling! You put it extremely well, "fall off the planet". That's how I feel. Like I'm upside-down and the universe is going to suck me in.

Other than that...

Anything that lives underwater is creepy. I'm terrified of large bodies of water, and that's why. I'm afraid something slimy is going to stick to my legs.

Mascots or people in similar suits, but only if the character's face has a big grin. It's hard to explain, but the enormous, gaping plastic-and-fabric mirth really unsettles me.

Oh, and engines... Especially motorcycles. I literally start panicking. The noise just bothers me.

I know 3 NTs who literally have a hatred of buttons. They go crazy if they see one. My NT cousin doesn't like buttons - he tries to find underwear without buttons on.
And the other 2 NTs I know who hate buttons - they're actually running their lives around their hatred: they've found jobs in factories, where they don't have to wear a uniform. Usually places like shops want you to wear a uniform with buttons.

Come to think of it, I don't have a hatred with buttons - but I never, ever wear anything with buttons on, unless it is uniform. (Even then I would have to force myself).

The thing I do have a hatred of and a fear of is tags in clothing. I can't stand them - they just make me wretch if I think of them whilst eating. Yyyuukkkkk!

I'm scared of heights (not especially strange or unusual) BUT.............

I have no fear of flying, love the window seat on planes and have even been up in a microlight AND a two seat glider (the kind that DOESN'T have an engine)

I draw the line at parachutes.........

I have the same combo. I think it actually makes sense. The fear of heights is actually the fear of falling from a great height. Something about planes must pacify our brains with the conviction that we absolutely won't fall. But with parachutes you are in fact falling from a great height. The terrible fear has come true. That it won't end in death means nothing to the screaming, atavistic brain.

I am glad I am not afraid of buttons
I wounder if I will worry about falling into the universe the next time I look toward the stars,never
thought of that before.
The thing I'am terrified with is snow flakes, I do not think they will ever stop, once it starts snowing
have a hard time breathing it's like being sufficated.
I also hate that your voice gets muffeled in the snow, you can't even yell for help.
I no not like that snow contributes to deadly car wrecks.
let alone slipping and bashing your head by just trying to walk.
I also have nightmares about being burried in snow, they start out where I
am alone and it starts to get dark and cold.
I'll say it again I'am glad I don't mind buttons they are around us every day
think I would go even more nutty if they they affected me like snow flakes do.

dx dyslexic and aspergers