Austism and Touch Starvation
Leah Libresco writes on the topic of human touch and how the sexual revolution has robbed us of the ability to touch each other without it being sexual. But for the autistic, either high functioning or low functioning, Sensory Perception Disorder often robs us of the same joy. I used to say I only had two emotions, angry and happy. A large part of that is the SPD I experience in my skin- it wasn't until Christopher was born and I experienced, in my "Daddy nappies" the ability to just hold another human being. And at times, that can be itchy or even painful if I'm in sensory overload to begin with. This is a real danger to the autistic community- craving touch, fearing touch, and acting inappropriately because of the push-pull of human touch. I don't have a solution this time, I'm just identifying the problem.