Recent Realization
Dec. 31st, 2018 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fuzzyredI was looking through ysabetwordsmith's old posts lately, looking for Polychrome stories that I hadn't read yet and I came across her post about Julia the autistic muppet. I was reading through the comments and I found beats_of_homeworld's description of handflapping. I have heard it mentioned before, with less detailed descriptions but I never really understood what was being talked about. After reading the very detailed comment left by beasts_of_homeworld, I realized this is something I do.
I never realized "the weird thing I do with my hands" had a name. I don't handflap around other people, though occasionally wiggle my hands, usually at suspenseful points in movies or tv shows, or if I have extra energy. It surprised me when I realized that I do actually flap my hands when I'm alone, in all three ways described. Most common for me is actually twisting my hands at the wrist, or twisting my arm from the elbow. For me, this is like fidgeting. I like having something to do with my hands and I don't sit still well, so my hands usually end up moving. Usually my elbows are around my waist when I do this, but sometimes my hands are up behind my head, kind of where they would be to put my hair in a pony tail. This is usually what happens when I get to a scary part or the climax of a movie. It can also happen if I'm out of spoons and procrastinating things like brushing my teeth.
The next most common for me is flapping side to side. This is my happyflap, often accompanied by a squee or other happy noises. This usually happens when I am very happy or excited so I usually wave my arms back and forth at the elbow, not just my hands. Sometimes this turns into the twisting kind of flapping, because I end up with left over energy lol.
I actually didn't think I flapped my hands up and down, until I flapped my hands at the dishes. This is definitely my disgruntled, frustrated or unhappy flap. This happens one of two ways; first way, elbows close to my side, hands at chest level, kind of like a t-rex; second way, arms straight out, hands flapping at the end. Flapping close to the body is usually accompanied by unhappy noises and usually happens when I need to do things I don't want to, like the dishes, or if I'm running out of mental energy and don;t have enough left over to finish a task like writing or solving a puzzle.
It was illuminating to have a name to put to what I do, and to know that I'm the only one who does this. It might still be considered "weird" by mostly people, but it's kind of nice to know that it actually is a way that other people express themselves, and not just a weird, random thing I do. I've never been to a doctor to see if I'm neuro-variant, but I was pretty sure I wasn't neuro-typical. This makes it a little clearer to me that I'm definitely not neuro-typical. I still think I'm just me, and I don't need a name for my uniqueness but maybe I can use this to see if I can find a few new ways to cope with things and improve some of the skills I seem to be missing. *flapflapflap*
ysabetwordsmith's old posts lately, looking for Polychrome stories that I hadn't read yet and I came across her post about Julia the autistic muppet. I was reading through the comments and I found beats_of_homeworld's description of handflapping. I have heard it mentioned before, with less detailed descriptions but I never really understood what was being talked about. After reading the very detailed comment left by beasts_of_homeworld, I realized this is something I do.I never realized "the weird thing I do with my hands" had a name. I don't handflap around other people, though occasionally wiggle my hands, usually at suspenseful points in movies or tv shows, or if I have extra energy. It surprised me when I realized that I do actually flap my hands when I'm alone, in all three ways described. Most common for me is actually twisting my hands at the wrist, or twisting my arm from the elbow. For me, this is like fidgeting. I like having something to do with my hands and I don't sit still well, so my hands usually end up moving. Usually my elbows are around my waist when I do this, but sometimes my hands are up behind my head, kind of where they would be to put my hair in a pony tail. This is usually what happens when I get to a scary part or the climax of a movie. It can also happen if I'm out of spoons and procrastinating things like brushing my teeth.
The next most common for me is flapping side to side. This is my happyflap, often accompanied by a squee or other happy noises. This usually happens when I am very happy or excited so I usually wave my arms back and forth at the elbow, not just my hands. Sometimes this turns into the twisting kind of flapping, because I end up with left over energy lol.
I actually didn't think I flapped my hands up and down, until I flapped my hands at the dishes. This is definitely my disgruntled, frustrated or unhappy flap. This happens one of two ways; first way, elbows close to my side, hands at chest level, kind of like a t-rex; second way, arms straight out, hands flapping at the end. Flapping close to the body is usually accompanied by unhappy noises and usually happens when I need to do things I don't want to, like the dishes, or if I'm running out of mental energy and don;t have enough left over to finish a task like writing or solving a puzzle.
It was illuminating to have a name to put to what I do, and to know that I'm the only one who does this. It might still be considered "weird" by mostly people, but it's kind of nice to know that it actually is a way that other people express themselves, and not just a weird, random thing I do. I've never been to a doctor to see if I'm neuro-variant, but I was pretty sure I wasn't neuro-typical. This makes it a little clearer to me that I'm definitely not neuro-typical. I still think I'm just me, and I don't need a name for my uniqueness but maybe I can use this to see if I can find a few new ways to cope with things and improve some of the skills I seem to be missing. *flapflapflap*
Thoughts
Date: 2019-01-01 09:04 am (UTC)Awesome.
>> but maybe I can use this to see if I can find a few new ways to cope with things and improve some of the skills I seem to be missing. *flapflapflap* <<
That would be good. Skills are learnable.
The one handflap I have that doesn't overlap the usual (like flapping hands to shoo people or critters) is a happy flap. It's a shoulder-high, once up-and-down flap accompanied by a loud squeal. Yes, I know that it sometimes annoys me, but it only comes out when I'm super excited by something, and I feel that I'm allowed to be effusive when my excitement is dialed up to 11.