Is this hypersensitivity, or something else?

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My mom and I were once talking about AS together and then out of the blue she grabbed my side without warning. I of course jumped and then asked why she did it. She said that she did to test how I would react to random touch like that. Then she told me that I always had been a little jumpy. She told me that my dad said that he had sometimes gently touched my shoulder to wake me up in the morning and I would startle even though moments before I had been sleeping. Ever since she mentioned this I have been keeping better track of my own reactions to touch. Just this morning and in recent mornings if my dad or someone else touches me to wake me up, I startle/jump even though I was completely asleep before. Also, evidently, if I'm awake and someone touches me in a certain way in certain circumstances I will jump. I'm not saying I would jump no matter what; it just happens sometimes. Touch in general can be very... annoying. Now I'm not quite sure if this is normal or not. Can anyone else relate to these experiences?

It's an invasion of your personal space. And it seems that us AS folks have a pretty low tolerance for someone coming into it. I'll find that when someone starts to get too close I find myself backing up and if I get touched unexpectedly I will cringe or react.
So I think it is normal within the scope of overall spectrum

I really hate being touched

I have avoided pretty much all touch beyond handshakes for almost 2 years

I'm the same way in the morning...very jumpy when I'm touched to wake up (hey, maybe some sort of evolutionary survival technique). The one thing I hate most of all is when something brushes the back of my head surprisingly, it almost feels like being punched in the stomach for some reason, haha, maybe that's not terribly uncommon but it sucks. I also hate anything touching or pushing on my stomach...whether it be ever so slightly tight clothes or even a girl I dated for three years.

I think its fairly normal. Only 2 people in my life are allowed in my personal space and only one of those is allowed free reign. The free reign is given to my 4yo and even then he knows not to get all up in my face as I will react to that

Alright, seems common enough among aspies. See, I still am not sure if I'm have AS or not, and I can't get a diagnosis right now. So now I'm doing the whole self diagnosis approach . I guess this is another one for the list.

Being startled and jumping when grabbed or touched unexpectedly, while awake or asleep, is a normal reaction for anyone, whether on the Spectrum or not.

Of course. But, I mean, I've woken up people who I know are NT's before by tapping, or gentle touch and they just slowly woke up and weren't alarmed at all. I jump pretty much no matter what if I'm sleeping. A light can come on or someone can vocally tell me to wake up and I'm completely fine, but touch is another matter. If I'm awake, I've observed that I'm a little more sensitive to touch than others. I usually dislike hugs- sometimes I'm ok with family hugging. Anyone would be startled if they didn't think anyone was around, but touch in general is best described as annoying in my opinion. When I asked if it was normal I mean't for NT's. Maybe it is, that's why I asked.

I love being touched, but not by strangers, although I think most people dislike being touched by strangers (unless they are meeting someone for the first time, but I just meant random strangers in the street).

Once I was standing in a shop, waiting for my friend to finish indecisively choosing something, and I stood in one place for ages just daydreaming. Then all of a sudden some old woman crept up from behind me, gently put her hands on both my sides, looked over my shoulder and said in my ear, ''excuse me, can I get by?'' I know she was being polite and wasn't miserable or anything, but she made me jump when she touched me, then I felt big and clumsy and awkward for just standing there all that time blocking the gangway. But what annoyed me the most was her putting both hands gently on my sides, it just irritated me. I'd rather somebody coming up from behind with a different expression, like just quickly saying, ''sorry, can I just squeeze by, thanks mate'', without having to touch me. Unless it was a hunky man.

My aspie daughter will startle if I touch her without first telling her what I am doing.

Also, my husband has ptsd (post traumatic stress disorder) and can not tolerate being touched to be woken up, as he reacts to it like an attack. Our family developed a series of clicking noises that will wake him without the startle effect. That has really helped us.

Actually, I don't care about being touched as long as it's an acquaintance doing the touching. If it's a total stranger or someone close to me, it feels wrong and horrible and gross. ; ^ ;