Autism's Natural Sound Lab

ALSO an Autism Sound lab!

(Comment) Well a picture is wroth a 1000 words and a million thoughts and this one brought back memories for me.

This was taken in our back yard and you can see it was rural. Most people thought it was QUIET out there but I could hear all the stuff that scared the rabbits like the hawk sqawking above, The distant animal rustling in the corn field. The neighbors screen door open with a horrible high pitch and even more. Gee, If I were a cave person I'd been using my natural advantage to hunt down dinner.

Look at the picture of the Chrysler and in the upper left had quadrant is red brown object, that is a distant barn about a 1/4 mile away. I often herd if the wind was right the loose roof panels slapping away as the wind blew. Others heard them to a I think heard more of it. I think I heard a higher pitch of sometype. Anyway, one day not long after this photo was taken I heard some noise in that barn a Squawk of sometype. I kept hearing it and thought I best look into the situation, I knew the property was vacant at the time and someone was using the barn for storage. The closer I go the more for sure I knew an Animal was in side. I found a way in via a small door and as soon as I opened the door I was grazed by a speeding Crow that had become trapped in the building. Whew that was a close call. I had learned never to stand in a door way in that situtation,something like a police officer never stands in a door.

Anyway Autism my experience with it was lucky in the respect I had the Autism Sound lab-the great out-of -doors. Living out in the wild like this was GREAT as I learned I heard more than the average person and even how to decode what I heard. I was able to match the popping sound of a motor to a burnt valve. I was able to realize what I had to do not to go crazy when I heard too much inside the house. I often went out of doors when someone ran the vacuum. It had plenty of High pitched noise. I even slept over the Water well in the basement and it was JET pump and literally the neighbors could hear it! It did sound like a jet to some degree. On the nights when the Water softener regenerated It would run 3-4 hours straight and I slept through that, but interestingly woke up the instant the sound changed for one reason or another. I was well into my teen age years before I really knew too much Noise was simply too much and I started putting LARGE mufflers on lawn mowers and wore my first ear plugs. The lack of real noise was so refreshing. Then I had to get used to hearing my own blood flow! When noise is being processed like that It hampers picture thought processing. In fact during Picture Thoughts my hearing is turned OFF mostly and I only hear key words or warnings or perhaps the slightest whisper of wind or a voice and that serves a warning for me many times to "wake up" turn off the Picture Thoughts and look in on reality.

I wonder if today Aspie's simply are not put on a drugs to hide the reaction to that noise no one else hears. By the time you get looped on something and experience the best of modern Autism in today's loud homes, one is at a big loss. Lots of us growing up rural even today do much better at life than some of our counterparts do. I know I am even bothered all the time with the out of time beeps from a car wash over mile away from here and I can hear those beeps over all of the other noise of the city. If I had not had my Autism Lab experiences I would not handled it as well. We even Hear the fake words people tell us as in kind of a lie detector we notice the one or two imperfections in a voice that give away the owners state of being to us. Sometimes what people say and what they do don't mix. I have told relation co workers and neighbors in so many word not to trust so and so and they all thought I was full of something but, someday I was proven to be right. My Co workers were shocked, How did I know so and so was a fake? A lot of it was in the voice.

Please remember like our Picture thoughts are out of sight and thus out of your mind our hearing is our in left field as well. I for one gave up explaining to anyone I heard the air leaking out of the car tire, or the radiator leaking on the car as I was not good at explaining things and who would believe me? That I heard something like that. Weeks after I heard those initial high pitches we had a flat tire and blown radiator respectively. I was being tutored nearly every night for gosh sake just how would I know a radiator was about to blow.

This topic of good hearing doesent ring any bells with modern autism, I'm sure. It might even be worth a few jokes at an autism convention, I would not expcet anything less and until they know what we know we indeed seem worth a laugh. Someday when the politics are settled and Our dream Autism School is set up I hope it is in the middle of no where ,,,it will actually be in the middle of A HUGE autism sound lab. There we can learn all about our noise issues and even use them to our advantage. I'm sure thate are more Autisitc car trouble shooters to be discovered.