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Not Stimming is MORE dangerous than you think...

I'm Autistic, Now What?

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I'd love to post more frequently on this channel because I have WAY too many ideas! To make the possible, I've started a Patreon. If you join, you'll get get 2 exclusive videos a month, access to the Discord server, and more:
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💛WATCH NEXT💛:

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📹 My Videos mentioned 📹:

The Theory of Monotropism.:
The Best Theory of Autism you've probably ...

📒 Sources 📒:

DSM-5 Criteria:
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp...

Mental health issues emerge with shifts in autism traits across childhood:
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/men...

Changes in the severity of autism symptom domains are related to mental health challenges during middle childhood: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37691...

ABA Therapy Autism Speaks:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/applied-...

Screams, Slaps, and Love: https://blogs.uoregon.edu/autismhisto...

SOME GENERALIZATION AND FOLLOW-UP MEASURES ON AUTISTIC CHILDREN IN BEHAVIOR THERAPY:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3571656/

Restricted and Repetitive Behaviour in Persons with Autism (Ages 0-18): An Integrative Review of Treatment Related to Occupational Therapy:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Reduction of restricted repetitive behavior by environmental enrichment: Potential neurobiological mechanisms: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science....

“It feels like holding back something you need to say”: Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults accounts of sensory experiences and stimming:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Preventing burnout: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-...

👀 Apparently I have Instagram Now... 👀
Instagram: imautisticnowwhat

00:00 When did you stop stimming?
05:29 Why are autistic children mentally ill?
09:05 Stimming MAKES you anxious??
11:20 The disgusting history of ABA
15:50 How we're STILL Hurting Autistic children
18:20 Autistic children are ZOO animals?
19:20 Why you SHOULD stim
21:10 We're all in ABA Therapy?
25:39 The BEST autism theory

📖 *Books I'd Recommend about Autism 📖 :

Aspergirls by Rudy Simone:
https://amzn.to/3xSZ6Mg

Different not Less by Chloe Hayden (read if you want to cry):
https://amzn.to/40fKx2m

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price:
https://amzn.to/3LhMV3j

*These are affiliate links. The channel will receive a small commission if you buy anything on Amazon after clicking through with this link. There's no extra cost to you; any money will go towards putting out more content. I'd love to post twice a week and put more time into research for these videos. Thank you so much - I really appreciate every like and comment!

DISCLAIMER: I am a second-year psychology student and a late-diagnosed #actuallyautistic individual. I am not a qualified healthcare professional.

20 Comments

@imautisticnowwhat Creator 2 years ago Pinned

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At what age did you start to edit, or try to stop, your stimming?

My patrons enabled me to post an extra ‘secret’ video this week 💛 Here’s the link if you missed it: https://youtu.be/7WkRHnYuY3A

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@rubynights3 2 years ago

The way I describe it, stimming is like a cat purring. It's done for comfort when in pain, but also as a show of comfort when not in pain. Trying to stop a cat from purring means you're either telling it to not show how comfy and happy it is, or telling it to stop comforting itself when it doesn't feel well.

@urdin2242 2 years ago

I work at a school for autistic children and most of my stimming is head and hand movement. I caught a couple of my coworkers laughing pointing when I started stimming during a meeting where I couldn’t move around and had to be quiet. You’d think that people that work with kids that have autism wouldn’t make fun of stimming. When I called them out and told them I’m autistic they understood, but they said, “ oh I thought that’s just how you were”. Yeah, of course that’s just how I am, I’m autistic.

@cass_p 2 years ago (edited)

Neurotypicals: autistic people are so restrictive in their thinking.
Also neurotypicals: you may only play with toys in the correct way!

@woggie001 2 years ago

ABA sounds like a therapy designed to treat the anxiety of the parents about their children rather than to treat the anxiety of the children.

@floydwhatchacallit6823 2 years ago

I remembered my sister flapping, and no one said anything. Every time I did it, my father would call me girl or say homophobic slurs to me. He thought it wasn't "manly". I was 3 or 4 and had no idea what a lot of what he said even meant.

But in many other ways my sister was pushed harder than me to be "normal".

@ShelbySillyy 2 years ago

As someone who is possibly neurodivergent (specifically autistic and ADHD) I find people who talk about their experiences as a neurodivergent child helps since I am a possible neurodivergent child.

@Jane.Garrett 2 years ago

I think I was lucky in that my preferred stims were more “socially acceptable” – i.e., playing with my hair, biting my nails, colouring – but I still got called out for them and made to feel self-conscious. I can’t imagine how NDs who gravitate towards more noticeable stims are expected to cope. 😢

@katzenlady5339 2 years ago

Oh yes, flapping hands when you're happy. I masked quite a lot until I got together with my ADHD girlfriend. The only person I feel comfortable around unmasking. When I first started learning about Autism, I thought that I don't flap my hands. But turns out, I do this when I am happy so my girlfriend started calling it "happy flappy" which I find very cute

@anniestumpy9918 2 years ago

I stopped stimming very early on when I got comments from adults and other children ("what are you doing?", blank judging stare; "your face will stop like this if you keep doing that"; "stop fidgeting around" etc.etc.).
I only allowed myself do do it again when I got my official autism diagnosis (in my 40s!) because now I "was allowed" to do it.
It's very sad what we do to children and their natural self-soothing behaviors; and it's not only words – a lot of us autistic people will notice your condescending looks, even towards other people, and remember that very well as "something not to do in public at all costs"... 😢

@JoeJoeTater 2 years ago

When I first started to suspect I was autistic, I didn't really think stimming would work for me. I would look at stim behaviors and stim toys and think they didn't look particularly fun. However, when I tried them, I was really amazed with how effective they are. Like, stimming really does a lot to regulate my emotions and just make me feel better in general.

@livnatkafka9017 2 years ago

Autistic people being themselves
The world: that's wrong!
Researchers: puzzled that a lot of us have mental illness
😒

@cynthmcgpoet 2 years ago

During that time, the academic literature still considered Autism to be a subset of schizophrenia. This explains (not excuses) the use of "psychotic" during the 70s.

@ND_NB 2 years ago (edited)

I remember standing outside a supermarket, ath the age of 6, consciously, thinking that i couldn't flap may arms because someone might think i was mocking disabled people. Little did I know... 😅

@jasper.maxwell 2 years ago

I'm pretty sure not stimming(due to bullying) is what lead me into a deep depression when I was 12. I'm 28 now and when I started researching on autism last year, I learned to stop masking and to start stimming again. After 15 years of depression, I'm a whole different person. Or maybe I just reverted back to my old happier self.

@LadyLenaki 2 years ago

My grandma I think knew about neurodivergence without having the words to explain it. If you're bothered by another person's stimming, the bothered person could do in another room and do something else because the stimming wasn't a bad behavior. If you liked standing to watch TV, there were places to stand that didn't bother the people that were sitting. My grandma also had a standard alternate meal option all through my mother's childhood, instead of saying you had to eat what everyone else was eating (this was in the 40's to 60's). She accommodated things instead of making kids feel bad.
Incidentally, she's the only relative I ever got along with and felt really safe around because I didn't have to alter my behavior. Pretty sure the autism/ADHD came from her family. My grandma would collect little glass figures (and glass stuff in general - she had thousands), always watched the exact same soap operas even if she was visiting someone else (she would insist on stopping to watch those), knew how to fix everything, and was still fascinated with babies and children despite raising 6 of her own.

@JessLee123 2 years ago

My mother told me to stop stimming because in those days she remembered what happened to kids like me i.e. they went to institutions. It really messed me up. My oral stimming turned into smoking. Mentally not stimming left my nerves raw and i was suicidal by 16 years old. Im so glad to get a lot of my stims back decades later, feels good.

@merky6004 2 years ago (edited)

That preschool story. My “Smile” story. In kindergarten our teacher informed us that the next day was picture day and that we should practice our “smiles.” This caused me considerable anxiety. Nowhere in our coursework were “smiles” taught. So that afternoon I asked that my mother, “Mother, what is “smile?”
Replied that is when a person turns the corners of their mouths upwards.” Oh. Okay. So I tried practicing a smile in the mirror. It was a lot of work. Next day I gave it my all. The photographer was not as impressed as I thought he’d be. Looking back he thought I was making a “face”. The resulting photo is interesting.

@julianiemeyer1010 2 years ago

My stim was origami. My parents asked my school teachers to take away any paper I brought to school that I was folding. I had the teachers encouraging bullying on me to get me to "act normal" on my parent's wishes. I tried to stop stimming, anything, took up nailbiting and ended up with blood on all of my homework and scabs on all of my fingers that would crack and bleed regularly from just anxiety.

@ClaireGenericChanmel 2 years ago

Since I was very young, I've been told to not hold my hands a very certain way, do certain "weird" things, for about 15 years I didn't know anything, until I got a good friend group who pointed out that these are traits of autism, I am very glad to have the friends I do now, most of them are neurodivergent and they're all understanding, typing this I'm no longer stopping myself from stimming whenever I'm alone, I can't get diagnosed yet, but will hopefully soon.
Youtubers talking about this help a lot, and I apprecite you teaching people about this
My friends and partners, my new family are great, hope everyone who took the time to read this (or didn't, because that's fine too!), will be able to stim freely, and be comfortable wherever they may be!