My Friends Call Me Meg

Although I’ve missed World Autism Month (apologies for that, exam season at college is crazy, and I’ve been working a lot lately too!) I still wanted to do a post on something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time; stimming. According to AsIAm.ie , stimming (short for self-stimulatory behaviour) can be defined as a repetitive series of actions which an autistic person may do when they are excited, anxious or stimulated. While yes, the word ‘stimming’ is something traditionally associated with the autism community, the actual behaviour is something most people are familiar with. Almost everyone has a habit or action they do subconsciously when they’re bored or anxious, such as twirling their hair, tapping their foot or humming. The difference between the aforementioned behaviours and an autistic person stimming, is although the actual action might be tame, such as fidgeting, tapping or humming, it’s usually an indication of a more intense emotion, be it excitement,