Hi everyone I have a few sensory abnormalities which may or may not be related to aspergers. I have posted about this before under the heading "synaesthesia", but i don't think it quite qualifies as such really, since my senses don't really get confused or mixed per se, but they seem unusually linked to my pleasure centre. This is pretty random... I'll start with this one. Does anyone have a favourite colour? I don't just mean a favourite colour, i mean a colour you feel REALLY strongly about? I go absolutely bonkers over purple. I mean seriously, it does something strange to my brain that no other colour does. The colour purple actually makes me feel comfortable, happy, nice, everything pleasant. I can appreciate other colours, i'm quite partial to cyan, but it doesn't make me feel anything the way purple does. I also get extreme pleasure responses from certain sounds (like nails being filed, charcoal pencils being used on coarse paper, thick cardboard being cut by sharp craft scissors, stubble being shaved by old style strop razors) and being touched in certain areas (like the inside of my elbows, the front of my shoulders, the veins of my wrists, the front of my hips, and many more), and also from being touched anywhere by things of a certain texture (like cat's tongues, shark skin). By extreme pleasure responses, i mean so good that it's a substitute for sex. It's not a sexual feeling at all: in fact i have tried to meld the two together before and if anything it's a major distraction from sexual thought. It sends my brain crazy and i can't concentrate on anything. Once, on a train home, i was reading a book when a girl behind me decided to file her nails. I felt so intensely good i couldn't even concentrate enough to read so i just closed my eyes, leant my head on the window and enjoyed it. I could happily never have sex again if i had a partner willing to just run some light fingers over me on those spots i mentioned, it's extremely intense. Does anyone have anything like this or anything else unusual to talk about?
Uhhh. I sense sounds as motion and movement in my head. Often they also have a texture I can describe. Not sure if it's synesthetic. But it's always made me very sensitive to noise and loud sounds.
As far as unusual senses go, I basically have a mental compass and way too much geographical knowledge, and it contributes to a strange thing in my head that I call "topographical feng shui." It's hard to explain, but to give insight into how my crazy mind works, I detest the fact that my university campus sits largely on the western slope of this one valley. I'll choose which coffee shop I study at depending on how its geography will affect my mood. I like that my parents' house faces northeast, but I don't like where my room is. The topography of the city of El Paso makes me uneasy, and Vancouver makes me claustrophobic depending on the weather. Barcelona is very pleasant, and Oakland, though the city itself is sketchy, seems ideal geographically for me. I could delve into the explanations, but I'd be here way too long and it wouldn't make sense to anyone else anyway. And one of my good friends ascribes personalities to numbers and letters, so he has a ridiculously easy time remembering special numbers, and he doesn't like certain words for their letter content.
I have some similar things. I can't stand the sound of mortar and pestle, the feel of flour makes me nauseous. I hate it when my hands feel dry, so I avoid some stuffed animals because of the fur type.
I love love love the colour red, anything red catches and holds my attention instantly. I hate the sound of certain things like a spoon scraping the bottom of a plate, or scratching a chalk board, that high pitch just drives me insane. I have a sensitive sense of smell, like I know when my dad has filled his car up with petrol because I can smell it, and certain spices and soaps are so strong/overwhelming for me I'm crippled with nausea. @pseudojim it's quite interesting with the touch thing because fore it's the opposite, if I touch someone in certain places (like lower arms) it sends my head spinning, can't get enough. But I'm not into people touching me.
haha, it's a shame you're straight then, sounds like you and i would both have quite the time just playing with arms =P
Bright lights, expeshelly florescents are really loud to me. In the same way that with loud sounds I will see bright lights
This sounds a bit like what is called ASMR. You can check it out on google and look for some youtube videos. I get this feeling as well to some degree, and listening to the ASMR youtube video where they have the sound of crinkling objects really relaxes me and makes me feel good. I know that sounds weird, but I think a lot of people experience this.
I've never been diagnosed but I suspect I may be borderline aspy. I swear I could listen to rain hitting a window, or the sound of larger dirt particles going in to a vacuum cleaner all day. Apparently "non-standard" (I hate the word abnormal) sensory perceptions are often present in AS and other ASDs ("autism spectrum disorders").
Fascinating!! Thanks very much, i had never been able to put a name to this. Most of the videos i found when searching were of girls whispering. That's majorly irritating to me, i have always found that sound extremely unpleasant. I prefer a low-pitched droning voice, and it would have to be male. Very interesting indeed...
