Sensory Squids

If you’ve been wanting buckyballs but found them too expensive, or want to show support for a company that makes great fidgets for adults, you can now get 45% off at their web site by entering the promo code “suckitgroupon” (presumably this has something to do with groupon not honoring groupons for buckyballs in light of the administrative action). I got a set of buckyballs, a set of buckycubes, and a set of “buckybigs” (8 biiiiig buckyballs) for a little over $50 and free shipping and am now super happy. :). PLEASE DO NOT BUY for children, or if you can’t keep them away from children or pets or adults with pica, or if you have a habit of putting your fidgets in your mouth without thinking.

This isn’t really a political blog, but this is important and topical:

One of the first things I reviewed on this blog were my buckyballs. These small magnets are an AMAZING fidget for us adults who have sensory needs. They are not only extremely useful for keeping my fingers occupied and helping me think, but also they look professional which means that I can use them in the place where I spend nearly every hour of my day: the office.

Although they are dangerous if swallowed and should be kept away from small children, there are some adults for which these things are actually medically helpful. People like me, who have dermatillomania and trichotillomania, need sensory inputs to help us avoid gouging at our skin and pulling hair out of places where we really should have hair. Without that input we are at risk for social and professional problems (due to visible sores or bald patches) and even serious infections. They also help me stay on task at work (I also have attentional difficulties, especially when trying to digest auditory-only information).

As I said in my original post, children and people with pica should not play with buckyballs. But buckyballs need to stay available for those of us who aren’t at risk of swallowing them. While there are other toys available, anyone who’s spent long amounts of time searching for the perfect fidget understands that sensory needs vary from person to person - what is satisfying and useful to one person may not be for another. I have a set of buckyballs already, but at some point I might have to replace or augment them, and it’s very important to me to have that option.

So, if you care, please go to the buckyballs site and sign a petition and/or buy a set to show support. Thanks. 

EDIT: I actually had failed to notice there’s no petition on the site (that I can see). But do feel free to circulate this, buy buckyballs to show support, and/or sign a petition if/when one does appear.

I have a lot of friends who have a hard time brushing their teeth due to sensory or motor issues, so this might be a neat (if somewhat more expensive) alternative:

[picture of the Rolly: a small circular gummy thing with bristles around the edges]

You chew on these little gummy discs as if they were pieces of gum, then spit themn into the trash. Cool!

(Source: Gizmodo)

Sherlocksflataffect has a good list of things to do to make apartments more autistic friendly:

sherlocksflataffect:

So I started making my house more autistic friendly today.

This means I need to do these things:

• Reorganize my drawers and closet
• label where things actually are in said drawers and closet
• Put stim toys somewhere accessible & memorable
• Get rid of shit I do not actually need
• Make an interaction board thing
• Make a…grocery list thing deal?
• Find places to put things on the wall
• Make a “Shit that needs doing often” kind of thing
• A Wall Of Appointments
• A thingy for the dishwasher
• Other things TBD

Um. So. That didn’t really happen. I started reorganizing drawers & then had to go get stuff & it took 2h & now I’m like INTERNET FOREVER.

But here’s my “don’t leave the house without these things” sign:

Been a bit busy lately, but I had to take a break to review the “My Beating Heart” pillow.

This thing is sort of gimmicky-seeming and I got it on a whim during the course of a ThinkGeek order (was buying the neurodiversity shirt). It’s another $40-range toy, but it’s totally awesome, as long as you don’t have a really big problem with vibration (it’s very subtle, it doesn’t feel tickly to me).

This thing (the large version, at least) appears to have been very carefully engineered to be hugged by a reclining adult. It’s the most comfortable cuddly toy I own at this point (and I really like my squishable t-rex).

When you press a button, it vibrates to the rhythm of a heartbeat for 20 minutes and then automatically shuts off. There are two pulse points, one on each side of the heart and on different ends, so the heartbeat sort of travels across the whole thing in a two-step pattern much like a real heart. It has a special algorithm to control the rhythm of the heartbeat so that it starts out quick, and then the rate follows a bit of a spiky path until the beat is very, very slow (“deep sleep or meditation” slow). So while hugging it, your heart rate actually goes down.  

I’ve been mostly using it to sleep. It works incredibly well for this purpose. You could also use it for anxiety, but personally I tend to actually get sleepy while hugging it, so it’s only a good anxiety cure if I don’t mind nodding off. 

Plus, the creators are awesomely geeky - the heart comes with a little tag that goes on about how they liked meditation so much that they made an algorithm to model their meditating heart rate. And their blog suggests that much of their marketing occurs at cons. 

Again, it sounds gimmicky but I’ve kind of actually fallen in love with this thing. Five stars.