From a young age, autistic people are taught to act neurotypical ñ to hide many of their ìless appropriateî behaviours and fit in with their non-developmentally disabled peers.
One of the more difficult behaviours to hide is stimming, which is a repetitive movement or sound that provides controlled ìself-stimulationî to an autistic person. This can take the form of an almost infinite number of things ñ whistling, toe-walking, organizing, rocking, nail-biting, or spinning ñ and most of them are not widely accepted as ìnormalî public behaviours.
Or, they weren't. Until fidget spinners somehow found their way into the mainstream.
Stim toys, like chewable jewelry, stim cubes, or even just textured, weighted balls, have been used by autistic people for years as a way to get away with stimming in public. Now that everyone has a fidget spinner, it's a lot easier to fit in ñ but the way it has come about is somewhat frustrating.
When I was in school, kids who needed sensory input to help them focus in class were punished. You didn't draw, rock, or play with a toy while the teacher was talking ñ you sat quietly and you concentrated on what you were supposed to learn. Self-stimulatory behaviour, which is part of the diagnostic criteria for autism, was considered pathological. It was something that needed to be corrected, not indulged.
Experts are beginning to recognize that sensory needs, particularly for autistics or those with ADHD, are valid and require attention. This is a great, positive thing for the autistic community, as professionals start accepting that self-stimulatory behaviour is normal and healthy.
However, it wasn't until neurotypicals picked up the fidget spinner craze that it became ìnormal.î It's not enough for an autistic person to express how a particular behaviour helps them ñ they need to wait for the right people, the neurotypical ones, to decide what's acceptable.
So instead of waiting for, say, a neurotypical person to decide that physical contact between strangers is unnecessary, let's just let people be who they are. If you're not comfortable shaking hands, don't do it. If you need to flap your hands to express your joy, flap away.
And if using a fidget spinner helps you focus, use it ñ thanks to the autistic community.
Jessi Gowan is a reporter with the Rocky View Weekly, a Great West Newspapers publication
