Re: Body Awarness

[Guest guest]

At 06:24 PM 10/4/04 -0000, greebohere wrote:

>just wondered if anyone else suffered from clumsiness?

I can't move around the house at all without knocking things over, stepping

on things. kicking things, etc.

>Am I the only one? Is there any way of

>avoiding this? ways to become more aware? Anyone out there that's

>overcome these problems?

You're not th eonly one! And if there's a way to overcome it, I'd like to

know. Being more conscientious only works for a little while for me because

it's hard for me to hold so much concentration on where I'm going and still

remember what I was planning to do when I got htere! LOL! I spend a lot of

time standing in the hallway of my apartment, trying to figure out if I

were going to bed, to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the computer, etc. I

have to stop and try to remember where I just was because that's usually my

clue as to where I'm going and why.

I try to keep as much space clear as possible but that's hard because the

apartment is small and there are two of us here. I love my partner dearly,

but he has a habit of leaving things lying around. He understands that I

hurt myself on his shoes when he leaves them in the middle of the floor but

it is a habit of so many years that he is unable to break it when he tries

.... plus, the place is so small that there's really no place to put his

shoes except in the middle of the kitchen or hall or living room!

We've been talking about buying land and building our own house. If anyone

has any tips about characteristics of housing that would make it more

comfortable, safer and more aspie-friendly, I'm all ears! I've already told

him that I want extra-wide doorways and everything on the first floor so

that we can keep living there even if we become so old and/or infirm that

we have to resort to wheelchairs.

>Also I assume everyone is roughly the same height as me and it comes

>as a great schock when I realise they're taller or shorter than me. I

>don't think I realised my boyfriend was taller until I saw a

>photograph with the two of us together

Intellectually, I know that my partner is an entire foot taller than me.

Perceptually, I just don't get it. I have to stand right next to him and

reach up with my hand to touch the tops of our heads to see the difference

or look at us standing next to each other in front of a mirror or

reflective surface.

I'm very bad at guessing people's age, weight or height. Just today, I

found out that a woman in my class is fifteen years older than me. I had

thought she was more like thirty years old. But my downstairs neighbor is

also fifteen years older than me and, until I found out, I had thought that

she was the same age as me.

Sparrow

[Guest guest]

Sparrow Wrote:

>Being more

conscientious only works for a little while for me because

>it's hard for me to hold

so much concentration on where I'm going and still

>remember what I was planning to do when I got htere! LOL! I

spend a lot of

>time standing in the hallway of my apartment, trying to

figure out if I

>were going to bed, to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the

computer, etc. I

>have to stop and try to remember where I just was because

that's usually my

>clue as to where I'm going and why.

Ok, so I’m not the only one who does that! Sometimes I have to go back and start

over again so I can remember where I was going – and other times I never

do remember till much later!

Something I do to avoid walking into things, I watch my feet as I

walk. I should say I look a bit of

distance in front of my feet, where I can see my feet peripherally. It is at times I’m not doing this

that I walk into things!

>I try to keep as much space clear as possible but that's hard because the

>apartment is small and there are two of us here.

Impossible for

me! I have 4 yr old triplets! Even though they all have the same

problem, they do not seem to learn to keep the space clear and just drop things

everywhere!

Interestingly, one

reason for this is my daughter doesn’t realize she’s holding

something if her attention is distracted (which is all the time lol) –

she doesn’t feel the thing in her hand – so she drops it. But I see all three of them just throw

things when they are finished with it.

It is a constant

battle to try to teach them to clean up after themselves but they just aren’t

generalizing it to any new situation (different thing or in a different part of

the house or at a different time does NOT have the same rules!). So we all trip over everything, step on

everything – a lot of bruises and hurt feet at my house!

>I'm very bad at guessing

people's age, weight or

height. Just today, I

>found out that a woman in my

class is fifteen years older than me. I had

>thought she was more like

thirty years old. But my downstairs neighbor is

>also fifteen years older than

me and, until I found out, I had thought that

>she was the same age as me.

Oh, I just hate it

when people ask me to guess their age!

I once guessed that a man was 23 when he was in his late 40’s. He had to show me his driver’s

license for me to believe him. He

liked me a lot after that! I guess if

we think they are younger it isn’t a problem!

Wendi

[Guest guest]

Sparrow,

As for designing the house, you could have it designed to wheelchair standards. There is a proper term for that but it escapes me. What that entails is things like slightly wider halls and doors, and a few other things that make the house more wheelchair accessible. You probably won't need countertops set at different levels and all that, just the wider doors and all. Also, make sure you get a reliable contractor. It may cost a little more, but good people are worth the extra money to avoid frustrations of work delay and poor craftsmanship.

[Guest guest]

Forgetting what you are doing is not uncommon. The problem has to do with short term memory. The way it works is this. You have two levels of memory: short and long term. Long term is very stable and is probably the result of hard-wired neurological connections. Short term is unstable because it doesn't need to last.

So, if you decide you need a glass of water and head for the kitchen to get it, that goes into short term memory since you don't need to remember getting that particular glass of water 20 years from now. However, if something else catches your attention, whether it is something you see or just an interesting thought, that could be enough to bump the other thing out of your short term memory. The new thought takes priority and the old thought can be lost. It is this rationing of brain space that causes this.

It can be worked around, but is nothing to worry about. Doing memory and other mental exercises still would probably be a good idea though. It may or may not help with the memory issues, but it will keep your brain healthier in the long run.

[Guest guest]

We're building the house ourselves. This has been my dream for decades and

so I've researched and volunteered to help others build their houses so I

could learn the skills.

Sparrow

At 10:28 AM 10/5/04 EDT, VISIGOTH@... wrote:

> Sparrow, As for designing the house, you could have it designed to

>wheelchair standards. There is a proper term for that but it escapes me.

>What that entails is things like slightly wider halls and doors, and a few

>other things that make the house more wheelchair accessible. You probably

>won't need countertops set at different levels and all that, just the

>wider doors and all. Also, make sure you get a reliable contractor. It may

>cost a little more, but good people are worth the extra money to avoid

>frustrations of work delay and poor craftsmanship.