(no subject)
Sometimes the autism can be hazardous to my health for two reasons, one I have a high pain tolerance and two I have to actually think things through.
Sunday I was going over to my parent's place so we could run some errands and I was going to take my laptop with me. Easy enough. Or so you would think!
I went to unplug the cord from the uninterrupted power source thingamawhatchit. My fingers touched the metal prongs of the plug while it was still connected to the socket. Cue electrocution. I felt my hand and arm going all ripply.
Cue pain tolerance: It didn't hurt.
Cue autism: Gee, that's a really funky feeling there. I wonder what's going on. Oh, I think it's because I'm touching the metal prongs and they're still plugged in. I guess I should remove my hand.
Cue removing hand and staring at it: Oh I guess I just electrocuted myself.
Cue autism again: I want t do it again. It felt funky!
Cue common sense kicking in: No wait, that's a bad thing, isn't it?
Cue autism: Oh. Right! Electrocuting yourself is bad!. I won't do it again.
Common sense: Good!
Autism: *longing look at the plug for a second*
Common sense: BAD. *whaps with newspaper*
Which is really a big problem with me and I think other autistic people. We don't have a survival instinct. That fight or flight thing that gets me out of the way of a moving truck. Nope! A moving truck is coming my way and I'll be thinking "Gee, there's a truck coming my way. I wonder what I should do about it. It looks like it might hit me. I wonder what that would feel like. I bet it would be an interesting experience."
As opposed to, "OHMIAGAWD TRUCK! MOVE!!!"
I actually had to learn how to not do such things like stand in the middle of the road and stare down a truck. (That is an extreme example and I never actually did that.)
I guess non-autistic people just aren't interested in having interesting experiences.
Sunday I was going over to my parent's place so we could run some errands and I was going to take my laptop with me. Easy enough. Or so you would think!
I went to unplug the cord from the uninterrupted power source thingamawhatchit. My fingers touched the metal prongs of the plug while it was still connected to the socket. Cue electrocution. I felt my hand and arm going all ripply.
Cue pain tolerance: It didn't hurt.
Cue autism: Gee, that's a really funky feeling there. I wonder what's going on. Oh, I think it's because I'm touching the metal prongs and they're still plugged in. I guess I should remove my hand.
Cue removing hand and staring at it: Oh I guess I just electrocuted myself.
Cue autism again: I want t do it again. It felt funky!
Cue common sense kicking in: No wait, that's a bad thing, isn't it?
Cue autism: Oh. Right! Electrocuting yourself is bad!. I won't do it again.
Common sense: Good!
Autism: *longing look at the plug for a second*
Common sense: BAD. *whaps with newspaper*
Which is really a big problem with me and I think other autistic people. We don't have a survival instinct. That fight or flight thing that gets me out of the way of a moving truck. Nope! A moving truck is coming my way and I'll be thinking "Gee, there's a truck coming my way. I wonder what I should do about it. It looks like it might hit me. I wonder what that would feel like. I bet it would be an interesting experience."
As opposed to, "OHMIAGAWD TRUCK! MOVE!!!"
I actually had to learn how to not do such things like stand in the middle of the road and stare down a truck. (That is an extreme example and I never actually did that.)
I guess non-autistic people just aren't interested in having interesting experiences.