iamshadow21:

literalbookworm:

Can’t stop won’t stop

I would hang something like this on my wall, no lie.

Really? Would anyone else be interested? Bc I would be happy to do these as (very cheap) commissions or trades or something. Actually, iamshadow21, I will totally send you one for free bc you sent me a hat once and I still love it!

I’m really in love with the flames/curls look of the one on the left, so something like that would be amazing.

Tell you what, you make one for me and I’ll try to do one of my epic black and white line drawing things I used to do a lot of about ten years ago. I’ll need to buy a decent pen next time I’m in town, but apart from that, I think it’d be fun and would take me a couple of hours at most. They turn out sort of halfway between a fractal and a fingerprint. I was going to show you a pic of one, but my drawing notebook is in a box somewhere, and not with the other art stuff in the kitchen as I’d thought. As it has been the better part of a decade since I drew anything, I can’t guarantee the quality, but if all else fails I’ll draw you a rainbow mosaic – all I need for that is a flat surface, a ruler and a tin of coloured pencils, and I’ve got all those. Both are amazingly stimmy things to draw – a teacher showed my class how to draw the mosaics in fourth grade, and the pen drawing was a thing I sort of made up when I was around eighteen – nineteen – twentyish.

My main stim is chewing/putting stuff in my mouth. I bite my nails really badly and still suck my thumb at night (even though I’m 17). Can you recommend a stim toy or something else I could chew on instead?

fuckyeahstimming:

Folks, ideas?

I am a chronic nail biter too. I reviewed the Twisty Teether Ball HERE. I found it really good for me to fiddle with and chew on when my nail biting gets really bad, but I also keep my hands occupied in other ways. I’m almost always knitting or doing some other craft, and I have a Tangle Therapy that I take with me places, but that’s not really a chewing substitute, just a fidget toy.

Are using stim toys If you’re not autistic appropriative?

fuckyeahstimming:

dearneurotypicals:

dearnonacepeople:

I have ADD and am interested in something to fidget with

not at all, in my opinion. people belonging to many different categories of neurodivergence stim, so any neurodivergent person who wishes may use stim toys.

if anyone feels that i have erred, your contributions are welcome

Stim toys are for anyone who stims.

What I don’t think a lot of people realise is that EVERYBODY STIMS. Everyone. And all in their own way. You swing on your chair? Twirl your hair? Crack your knuckles? Jiggle your foot? Click your pen? Sing or hum to yourself? Wrap yourself in your favourite fluffy garment just because it feels nice? All of these things are stimmy.

Do you know what they call stimming in neurotypical people, particularly babies and toddlers? They call it self-soothing, and it is considered a POSITIVE THING, an important developmental milestone. It is when the child starts to comfort themselves and be less prone to separation anxiety when alone or when their parents leave the room or put them down. Neurotypical kids tend to stim in less and less obvious ways, but lots of people suck their thumbs, well into late childhood or even adulthood. And that’s fine.

What parents, educators and therapists who try to stamp out all stimming behaviour seem to fail to recognise is that stimming performs a very important function in ALL PEOPLE to help them self-regulate. Slinkies? Koosh balls? Stress balls? Rubik’s Cubes? Those little desk sculptures with the swinging balls? All developed for and bought by a largely neurotypical population, and no one would shame an adult for owning or enjoying one of them, even though they’re stim toys, plain and simple.

So do whatever feels right for you and feels best. And fuck anyone who shames you for it, because stimming is a trait that’s common to everyone, even if some forms are more socially acceptable than others.