Video on autistic perception walking down the street

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Not really something I'd see without a sizeable amount of mind-altering substances. Seems really intimidating, though. The first video seems to display someone's idea of what a 'neurotypical' sees, but most 'neurotypicals' I know would actually try touching some plants they see out of sheer interest. Some plants just feel really nice when you touch them, and some plants give off seeds and things that you can throw at people.

I showed my gf this video trying to get her to understand why I act like I do when we are out or if she opens the blinds during the day at home. She said, "Huh? I hear and see everything too...I just block it out and go on". I said, "the difference is that I CAN'T block it out...it's not a switch!" I still don't think she gets it...I think that she thinks I'm just being a big baby.

Here is how I differ from the video:

1. Less brightness - but it can cause me to have to close my eyes without sunglasses at times.
2. I do the focusing on objects thing, but my object of focus changes faster and with more frequency.
3. More street noise - include the sound of my own breathing, other people's breathing, footsteps, etc.
4. I physically interact with objects more. I will often drag my fingers along a wall or fence or whatever, touch things like parking meters each time I pass one, touch light poles, etc. I will also pick up objects of interest and interact with them, like once walking through a park I found a golf tee and held on to it for the rest of the walk, just manipulating it with my hand, even using it to touch things like trees I walk past.
5. More looking at the sky.
6. Possible humming singing or talking to self added.

I agree about the touching thing. The person walking has to not only notice the plant or the water pipe, but slow down/pause for a moment, reach out, and just touch it. Perhaps followed by a sudden realization that they were supposed to be going somewhere, and walking quickly for a for moments to catch up for lost time.

It would also be a nice touch if they had another person to film with them so that they could stage a "What it's like when another person walks by an NT" vs "What it's like when another person walks by an AS". They can make the person walking by the NT seem like more forgotten background details. But for the AS, make the person look like they're walking too close, with the camera-person taking an exaggeratedly large step aside to make room, or make it seem like they're staring at the AS in a way that helps NTs understand how uncomfortable it can be when a stranger tries to make eye contact.

It is actually a pretty good interpretation of the sensations that can occur for me, in a typical walk down the street.

I found this video to be very accurate for me. It gets especially worse for me when I am tired and on busy roads and lots of people and I get to a point where I have to get somewhere quiet and dark NOW or I will totally lose it!!

What I found lacking from the video was also the concept of the thousands of thoughts going through my head all the time from one topic to another, and one connection to another, on and on, as well as some song always playing in my head.
I also get very distracted by other internal things such as hunger, thirst and sore legs, or other stuff like that. Then if you add walking along while chatting with someone and trying to handle all of that aspect too, and/or out with my Son, carrying a bunch of bags, it is just utterly exhausting and I desperately need to get home to the quiet and darkness to drain my head of everything!! !!

I don't know if I've posted in this thread before - I know I've seen the video on youtube in the past. I identify with the second part - the autistic walk. Just imagine it less bright, with a much higher frequency of being distracted by objects. People have often told me that my eyes race around all over the place.

Edit: wow... I posted on this same page of the thread in the past -_-... Interestingly enough, my posts agree with each other, although the first one I made was more detailed.

Last edited by Atomsk on 07 Jul 2012, 7:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

The brightness is a bit exaggerated... but overall the video is correct. I can recall many cases of pipes, drains and other similar things grabbing my attention while walking down the street. Sometimes even stopped for a few seconds to "admire" them.

And I do prefer darkness - strong light oppresses me, though I don't see things that brightly.

Before I knew how I was different, I always wondered how people could be so focused on what was straight ahead and so blind to everything else. At work, people would always look straight and never look down side hallways or into open doors or anything.

Even after I knew, it took that video to make it click for me. My jaw kind of dropped and I thought, "That's what it's like for normal people?!"


Then I showed the video to my partner, and now she feels guilty for 9 years of dragging me out of the house to do things when I wasn't feeling sociable. /facepalm

I had to laugh when I read this. I also like to stop to "admire" funny things like that.

I've finally found a pair of sunglasses that don't hurt so soon to wear and don't put the lenses in contact with my eyelashes so easily, though they're still a little big for my head. They're Coleman wrap-arounds. I now realize how very much more comfortable I am. No more squinting all the time. Wow! What a relief!

Excellent video!
That is exactly why I feel so tense when I have to leave my appartment. The light is intensified and the noises are harder and more intense. It's very hard to describe because that is what I have been used to all my live. What adds up to it all is the inability to filter visual and auditive stimuli. There are days that I can cope with it but when I have a bad day I want to return home as soon as I possibly can.

Supermarkets are horrible as well. The light is unbearable and sometimes I loose all sense of direction in a supermarket where I haven been a hundred times before.