Sensing hypersensitivities in people's written posts?

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Can you sense posters' sensory hypersensitivities?
Yes, I can 26%  26%  [ 6 ]
No, I can't 61%  61%  [ 14 ]
I can't answer this poll 13%  13%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 23

TheBicyclingGuitarist
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28 Apr 2011, 9:10 am

I have always been hypersensitive to sensory input. My sisters tell me that when I was a baby I would scream when picked up. I've always preferred quiet, cool, dark environments. When I go into a busy store I do best if I have a plan ahead of exactly what I need, so I can be in and out of there as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the longer I stay the more dazed I become, until I have to go outside to try to compose myself. This doesn't work well when I am shopping with someone who enjoys lingering and wandering through a store. I have been accused of ruining their shopping experience because of my shutdown.

Still, how can one tell about somebody's sensory issues just from their writing, unless that is what they are writing about?

Some of my symptoms may be not strictly from Asperger's. I also have low thyroid. But then, the low thyroid may possibly have had something to do with my getting Asperger's in the first place (by not being present at high enough levels to trigger certain key developmental stages when my brain was growing as a baby or toddler). Low thyroid can cause chronic depression, and that is definitely something I've had all my life as far back as I can remember, even as a very young boy. Of course not being able to read social cues leading to isolation and alienation, plus the sensory issues making it physically painful for me to be in environments that most people either don't mind or actually enjoy (malls, sporting events, etc.), are also probable reasons to be depressed.

I don't know if thyroid issues have anything to do with autism. Even if they do in some cases, probably not in all cases. I just recently learned about thyroid hormones having something to do with early child brain development. It seems more plausible than the vaccine theory, which seems to be based on fraudulent research inspired by the coincidence of some infants regressing to autism after having received MMR vaccines.

There are some advantages to Asperger's (my above average IQ, encyclopedic knowledge of many subjects, above average vocabulary and wordsmithing skills, good "ear" for music). The social issues suck, but aren't that important to me. The sensory issues bother me a lot more. I hope research finds a way to fix those problems. It might even be worth becoming a ret*d zombie if that would bring me some peace.


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OJani
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28 Apr 2011, 10:20 am

syrella wrote:
(..)
I'm realizing now that I think my "ADHD/Aspie" nature is coming across. If you want to look for a post that is neurologically "like me", then you need to find one that is both off topic, rambling, and monologuing... all under the guise of participating in a discussion. :wink: I'm guilty of this way too often.

Do you read my mind? :P



syrella
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28 Apr 2011, 9:56 pm

OJani wrote:
syrella wrote:
(..)
I'm realizing now that I think my "ADHD/Aspie" nature is coming across. If you want to look for a post that is neurologically "like me", then you need to find one that is both off topic, rambling, and monologuing... all under the guise of participating in a discussion. :wink: I'm guilty of this way too often.

Do you read my mind? :P

Haha. Maaaaaaybe. 8)


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theWanderer
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29 Apr 2011, 6:34 pm

Peko wrote:
How can someone detect what a person is/not sensitive based on their writing?


Although I don't claim to be able to do this, in theory you could determine some sensitivities through word choice and phrasing. To give an obvious example, even if I wasn't discussing my sensory issues, if I mentioned that someone "stank of perfume", you might infer that I find perfume harsh and irritating. That is a glaringly obvious example, but there are many more subtle possibilities.

In practice, of course, there are complicating factors. To address the example I used above, I might not be especially sensitive; I might be mentioning an individual who used excessive amounts of an unusually strong perfume. And the more subtle the cues, the more you'd need a good sense of the person's overall vocabulary before you could infer anything with confidence. That is why, in spite of the fact I'm a writer, and characterisation through word choice is something I understand reasonably well, I'd never claim the ability to determine another's sensitivities through their posts.

I could, with reasonable success, give others the impression that a certain character in a story had certain sensitivities and attitudes - but I'd also plan that story carefully to provide the incidents that would allow me to develop that impression. And some readers would miss the point, and others would form a completely different impression than the one I intended. In the real world, posts are not carefully planned to give others an accurate picture of the poster. So I wouldn't consider any impressions gained from them particularly reliable.


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pensieve
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29 Apr 2011, 7:13 pm

theWanderer wrote:
Peko wrote:
How can someone detect what a person is/not sensitive based on their writing?


Although I don't claim to be able to do this, in theory you could determine some sensitivities through word choice and phrasing. To give an obvious example, even if I wasn't discussing my sensory issues, if I mentioned that someone "stank of perfume", you might infer that I find perfume harsh and irritating. That is a glaringly obvious example, but there are many more subtle possibilities.

In practice, of course, there are complicating factors. To address the example I used above, I might not be especially sensitive; I might be mentioning an individual who used excessive amounts of an unusually strong perfume. And the more subtle the cues, the more you'd need a good sense of the person's overall vocabulary before you could infer anything with confidence. That is why, in spite of the fact I'm a writer, and characterisation through word choice is something I understand reasonably well, I'd never claim the ability to determine another's sensitivities through their posts.

I could, with reasonable success, give others the impression that a certain character in a story had certain sensitivities and attitudes - but I'd also plan that story carefully to provide the incidents that would allow me to develop that impression. And some readers would miss the point, and others would form a completely different impression than the one I intended. In the real world, posts are not carefully planned to give others an accurate picture of the poster. So I wouldn't consider any impressions gained from them particularly reliable.

This is how I pick up on the emotions. It's the choice of words and the verbal voice in my head helps out.
I read your post with a calm voice in my head. I can read posts and hear anger in my head or excitement or even people on the verge of tears.
This also comes out in my story writing.


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