Autism: An Hour In His Shoes

With Autism: You See the World Differently

 

Processing…

When my son was younger, he had trouble with information intake. Since he had no filters in place, information would bombard his senses in an endless stream. The best way I can describe it is this:

Taking a Test At School

You are given a simple command. You have one hour to complete a multiple choice test in class.

A regular student would filter out all the extraneous stimuli and focus on the test exclusively.

An Autistic student cannot filter out the incoming data stream. There are too many variables vying for his attention.

Sight:

The overhead lights are bright and hurt your eyes. Fluorescent tubes flicker in a random pattern and emit a low frequency hum that is distracting.

Noise:

Voices: teachers and students… the ticking clock… the teachers voice… the scratching of a pencil on paper… papers rustling… students: breathing… sneezing… coughing… etc.

Time:

Do I have enough of it? How many minutes do I devote to each question? What if I don’t finish in time? What if there are trick questions?

What it Feels Like…

Driving 100mph on the Autobahn while taking a test, reading, watching a movie and carrying on a conversation.

Now, do all of these things well and at the same time.

This exercise lasted one hour. Now, picture your every waking moment progressing this way.

MineCraft
Ender Dragon

By

Ian Phillips