Autism explained – an attack on the senses

As an autism tourist, I was about to take a tour and enter a virtual world. This new place, courtesy of a blacked-out van, was immediately unnerving. Visually it felt like the floor was escaping from me. Suddenly vulnerable. Unsteady on my feet…as if the ground was uneven and I would fall…it was my vision showing me a blurry, off-kilter world…so I held onto a door handle.

I was taken by the hands and led into a dark room, where green, red and blue dots of light raced around the place. A screen showed a clock loudly tick-tocking, a tap slowly drip dropping, a vacuum cleaner sucking out the quiet from the room.

I had been told to sit down and watch the screen in this darkened room but even the chair was hard and unwelcoming, with its strange ridges. The woman in the corner watched as I scrutinised the images on the screen. I had been told to wait for instructions.

‘Baby powder and fresh bread’- a strange perfume

A few instructions came occasionally spliced inbetween much banging, splashing and tick-tocking. Most of the time, my senses were under attack. An onslaught of sounds, sights, textures and smells closed in. Baby powder, coffee and fresh bread wafted in the air making a strange perfume. I felt overwhelmed. A little anxious. I wanted to get up but the woman told me to sit down again, and again, to listen to what seemed like an army of unwanted guests.

Sporadically came five or six basic instructions. I could recall: ‘Write your mother’s maiden name on the blue post-it note’; ‘spell out the word autism on the wooden blocks’; ‘find seven green tiddlywinks’; ‘find the five of spades’.

To read more about this unique explanation about Autism – click here.