help me with this project to help NTs understand autism?

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ok so heres the thing...
i want to send an email to my family, and i want it to have loud piercing music, lots of flashing piercing lights that can hurt ur eyes, and then see tons of like images in the backround, and then i wanted it to say, in clear words.. now also imagine wearing wool or soemthing really rough against ur skin, and eating raw milk and smelling it all at the same time.. then make it say.. can you notice the images really well? no, well now you can get maybe a glimsp of what its like to be autistic!

I dont know how to go about this, but my mother and brother both want to know how it feels and i thought good way to explain it! Is there anybody who can help me do this? or show me how to? or know of a site that does this? etc. Please help, thanks

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

As far as I know, it basicly can't be done. Sorry.

Go on youtube.com and find a video with screechy music and flashing lights and send it to them. Going to youtube and just typing "screechy music flashing lights" into the search engine might bring uo several. When you send youtube videos, you can send a message along with them and have that message explain everything else like the itchy wool or unpleasant tastes.

Great post. Know the feeling all too well. Send them a site or document that requires a log in code (password). When they say they say they can't open it say, "sure you can, you do it all the time". If they persist (which they may not being NT) and still can't get in say in a frustrated voice, "you need to learn to adapt to simple passwords". Finally, when they give up act exasperated and give them some obscure password with assorted numbers and letters and say, "it's so obvious, why can't you just do it".

Excellent idea. I suggest finding out what environment they like least and are least comfortable in and familiar with. For instance, a rave, gansta rap concert, monster truck rally. Then send them there (without cell phones or any other way of communicating with the outside world), and tell them you will pick them up at a time of your choosing.

That might begin to approximate the everyday experience of an Aspie/Autie.

Or (more expensive), drop them off in the hinterlands of a very foreign foreign country, then pick them up at a time of your (not their) choosing. Again, a reasonable approximation.

I actually saw a video on u-tube a while back that tried to do this. They had flashing lights, screechy music and film of characters speaking, but different audio dubbed over the top. I'll see if I can find it again.
Stay tuned.

Edit: Found it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPDTEuotHe0

You can get the music yourself by tuning into a lousy FM station on a cheap radio. Turn up the volume until the sound becomes distorted so that it is aweful to listen to, and finally tape S.O.S. or other steel wool scrubbing pads to the insides of their shirts. If female, have them stuff their bra with steel wool pads. Now on top of that, talk quietly to them and ask them questions and expect the right answers. This is what I deal with in many different environments.

hey thanks everybody great ideas and thanks for the utube video link, i sent that one to my brother and mother, much easier then me making one lol. altohough this isnt for a sensory overloard and when iw atched it thats not jus how i feel durin a sensory overload thats also how i amy see and hear on a dailyb asis, either way thanks everybody!! !!

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

Strange, I didn't relate to that vid at all, I don't know if my meltdowns are differently triggered than the "normal" (if there are such a thing. ^^). Frist of all I usually require psycal touch/bright light and being hungry or tired. The main thing with them is that I stop being able to tell the difference between vital and excess information, thus geting very confused and annoyed. (This is were I'd get out of the situation.) But then again, that's just me.

I didn't relate to that video either - for me, after the amount of stimulus crosses the threshold into sensory overload, I become numb, confused, and sleepy. And then will actually fall asleep.

The closest I have gotten to that was to the point that everyone was all mumbling around me if I didn't pay attention to it (crowded areas with people talking), I'd feel 'out of it' and have a wandering mind and whatnot-but I could make out peoples speaking if I focused a little. It's not as bad as that YT video for me (as in not that loud-not that I remember....).

I don't know how you would make or help them experience the anxiety overwhelm that I think autistic people experience from sensory overload. I have sensory issues too, but for me its just reaching the threashold of pain much earlier than most. I had to turn down the loud part of that video because it hurt my ears, and in bright sun light I close my eyes or wear dark sun glasses because that light level hurts my eyes, but I don't experience any anxiety in response to these things. I might experience frustration from too much going on at once, but I seldom have that anxiety overload. I don't know if your family members would appreciate that aspect unless you tell them you have that on top of everything else, if you do.