Spinners (or other stim toys)

[KaydeeKrunk]

That's why I prefer rings 'cause while the cube has more options I don't want people to stare at me or to notice, and if they do notice I just look like some dude playing with his ring out of boredom. Plus there's not much excitement about someone just moving their thumb so it's not much of a distraction to others.

Yeah spinner rings are really neat, I wish I could get one but I can never find any that would fit my super fat fingers. =[

 

[hamster]

i wasn't expecting something like this to take a trend but it's fine i guess.

 

[Mr. Cat]

We all have a little ADHD in all of us. That goes to show how far we've come. That's just how I see it, though. I have no qualms with opinions, they're what make things interesting.

You do realize that there's a mearsurable difference in the brain structure of those born with ADHD, right? Not everyone is "a little ADHD". It can be detected by a trained neurologists and brain scans. I used to think like you did before I became educated.

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I am seeing memes making fun of them now and it's making me really angry... like they're photo-shopping spinners onto pictures and saying "oh no that ___ is disabled!" and it's not funny at all. Like the stupid triggered meme. Really wish people wouldn't use disabled people as punch lines, it's just so tired and horrible.

Oh, wow... that's awful...

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That's why I prefer rings 'cause while the cube has more options I don't want people to stare at me or to notice, and if they do notice I just look like some dude playing with his ring out of boredom. Plus there's not much excitement about someone just moving their thumb so it's not much of a distraction to others.

I would prefer the rings too for the same reason, but they're so expensive online for the rings + shipping and I don't know my size at all... otherwise, I'd have one. I don't have any interest in the cube for some reason.

 

[Torterraxe]

I think that only people who need them should have them. One should only use a fidget spinner if they have focus issues or if they need something to calm them down, but at school neurotypical kids are using them and having them taken away. I've heard that some schools are just completely banning them. My school has banned them but makes exceptions only if you actually need it. I find the fact that they are being used differently than they were intended is quite bothersome, and it's really annoying that these things are being banned for people that need them just because some other people decided to use them as a toy instead of a tool. And if anyone here has focus issues (anxiety, ADHD, ADD, PTSD, etc.) i recommend you get something like a fidget cube or a worry stone. I don't actually know how well a worry stone would work. I have one, I just don't use it much. And I wish anyone here with a mental illness well

 

[Mr. Cat]

honestly they're extremely distracting
"oh, but blu rass! the neurodiverse community can only focus when fidgeting!"
ok so
the problem with the stim toys currently used as a trend is that they all make repetitive noises which become annoying, very noticeable (especially in a classroom setting where the teacher is the only speaker), and are very visible phenomena (even for like the fidget cube's non-noisemaking facets). this leads to a distraction of the people around the person fidgeting. so, a decision needs to be made regarding the toy: let the students around the fidgeter be unfocused because of the fidget _______, or let the fidgeter be unfocused him or herself
it simply makes no sense to permit fidget _______s to be used within a typical classroom setting as they have been

there is a very simple solution: get a stress ball
get some rice or flour or even some sort of extremely non-viscous gel-based liquid, put it into a balloon, bam, stress ball that doesn't make noise and can easily be fidgeted with in a manner that isn't noticeable unlike the fidget _______s described above

I've noticed most people who are neurodivergent tend to try to pick things that are silent and out of sight for others. It's the neurotypical kids who are being obnoxious with them and thus getting them banned. I understand what you're saying. I can't focus at all with noises, most of us can't, so we're very conscious of it.

 

[Ghost Soda]

Why isn't there a choice for "I don't have one but I want one/think it's cool."? :U

 

[screechfox]

i'm autistic, and while i've never used a spinner or a fidget cube, i can see why people do use them. i don't necessarily have anything against neurotypical people using them - partly because what's the harm, and partly because there are plenty of people who are neurodivergent who think they're nt - but i do think they should be respectful, and non-disruptive.

i have to say, it can be kind of annoying being at the center of attention just for having a fidget toy, though. i understand that they can be novelties, especially more obscure kinds, but i once spent half a chemistry lesson off-topic because my table and my teacher were asking about my tangle. (not in a mean way, but even so.)

 

[gravitycrossing]

I never heard of fidget toys before they became popular, but i wish i did. I have anxiety and i have to fidget when im in school or i can't focus. I mean, i still get lost in thought when I am fidgeting, but its worse when i'm not. I thought about getting the cube, because the light switch part would be helpful in terms of me focusing, cause when i fidget its always like repeated movements. But because of how its being viewed in society now and some of the rude things people at school say to people who do have fidget toys, i just decided to skip out on it. Kinda sad that people who could actually use these things have to miss out because of the idea society has created around them.

 

[seliph]

I would prefer the rings too for the same reason, but they're so expensive online for the rings + shipping and I don't know my size at all... otherwise, I'd have one. I don't have any interest in the cube for some reason.

I actually got lucky and found mine about a year ago in a little shop in Montreal. It was before fidget toys were a thing so they weren't even marketed as such, they were just cool rings I found with spinning middle parts.

Maybe other cheapy accessory stores have something like them too, I haven't really looked so idk.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

You do realize that there's a mearsurable difference in the brain structure of those born with ADHD, right? Not everyone is "a little ADHD". It can be detected by a trained neurologists and brain scans. I used to think like you did before I became educated.
--
I would prefer the rings too for the same reason, but they're so expensive online for the rings + shipping and I don't know my size at all... otherwise, I'd have one. I don't have any interest in the cube for some reason.

When I got diagnosed with ADHD I had like everyone in my life fill out a questionnaire thing, including me. Like my mom, her boyfriend, my teachers, my sister, it was really weird. But I never got scans or anything, I wish I had, that would have been cool.

Also if you ever need to find your ring size just go somewhere that sells rings and try a bunch on, you can always ask them to size you too, but I hate human interaction so I just try on a bunch of them to find out my size. XD Too bad not many places sell rings, at least not female rings, that fit my fat fingers.

 

[seliph]

Hey guys I found a massive post with really cheap stim toys!

https://slimeworks.tumblr.com/post/160651424840/5-and-under-stim-toys

I haven't checked em all out to see if any of their shipping is inconvenient but a lot seem to have really cheap shipping fees if any.

 

[avdhpns]

I'm not autistic (though I could be as I have never been diagnosed but fit some of the criteria). However, I have a lot of anxiety and tend to have silent panic attacks in large rooms full of people where freedom to move around is restricted and have to sit still for long periods of time while focusing (specifically: classrooms). While I don't own a stim toy, I think I could definitely use one of those cube toys (spinners make me nervous).

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

Hey guys I found a massive post with really cheap stim toys!

https://slimeworks.tumblr.com/post/160651424840/5-and-under-stim-toys

I haven't checked em all out to see if any of their shipping is inconvenient but a lot seem to have really cheap shipping fees if any.

AHHH the squishies! I love squishies! That narwhal is too cute! Also the magnet beads, I've been wanting to buy a set for so long!!!!!!

 

[Flare]

I don't own a Spinner, not sure if I would be interested in getting one.

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I do kinda feel the Trends on the Spinners is rather obnoxious as they were meant to help people with mental issues such as Anxiety.

 

[Mr. Cat]

I'm not autistic (though I could be as I have never been diagnosed but fit some of the criteria). However, I have a lot of anxiety and tend to have silent panic attacks in large rooms full of people where freedom to move around is restricted and have to sit still for long periods of time while focusing (specifically: classrooms). While I don't own a stim toy, I think I could definitely use one of those cube toys (spinners make me nervous).

How you describle a "silent panic attack" definitely sounds like it could be an autistic shutdown. That's exactly how I was in school. For me it meant my body would freeze up and it would take a lot of energy for me to move and I would also try to speak, but no words would come out at all. It's a weird sensation, usually caused by being overwhelmed by everything around me. I shutdown much more than I meltdown. I think a cube could definitely benefit you and I hope you can get one! I wasn't diagnosed until I was 20 years old because girls with autism in the 90s were very rarely diagnosed.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

How you describle a "silent panic attack" definitely sounds like it could be an autistic shutdown. That's exactly how I was in school. For me it meant my body would freeze up and it would take a lot of energy for me to move and I would also try to speak, but no words would come out at all. It's a weird sensation, usually caused by being overwhelmed by everything around me. I shutdown much more than I meltdown. I think a cube could definitely benefit you and I hope you can get one! I wasn't diagnosed until I was 20 years old because girls with autism in the 90s were very rarely diagnosed.

See, I feel like I am on the autism spectrum, but the last time I was diagnosed was in the early 2000's and I was diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and depression. To the point that they wanted to give me a bunch of drugs but I didn't want them, but it was before a lot of people got diagnosed, so I wonder if I am on the spectrum, because I shut down like that a lot... Or where I just can't even talk, I am forming sentences in my head but just garbled stuff is coming out and I literally have to ground myself and stop before I can form real words...

 

[Mr. Cat]

See, I feel like I am on the autism spectrum, but the last time I was diagnosed was in the early 2000's and I was diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and depression. To the point that they wanted to give me a bunch of drugs but I didn't want them, but it was before a lot of people got diagnosed, so I wonder if I am on the spectrum, because I shut down like that a lot... Or where I just can't even talk, I am forming sentences in my head but just garbled stuff is coming out and I literally have to ground myself and stop before I can form real words...

I was just explaining to someone not even an hour ago about how I say something in my head and it comes out of my mouth completely different! haha. Also, I went to a psychiatrist once for depression and anxiety, but he mentioned that I could possibly have ADHD too and tried to medicate me for it. I left then and never went back because ADHD doesn't fit me very well and I thought it was odd that he'd think that. When I got my Autism diagnosis I started to see how he could have thought that it was ADHD because there are many similarities.

 

[kayleee]

Personally I'd have no use for one and think it's stupid to see kids running around with them just because they're "cool." Like frankly I don't see anything cool or fun about them. If they are used to serve a purpose for an individual then fine, I can get behind that, but what about them could possibly be fun for the kids/people who don't actually benefit from them?? I just don't get it

 

[mermaidshelf]

I feel badly because I work in a school in another country, where mental health isn't as understood. If we see them out in class, we have to take them away. In fact, if they do any activity that isn't what is expected of students, then they're yelled at. I try my best to be lenient in my classroom about it but the students misinterpret that as my not caring and they go wild.

I found that here, adults freely participate in things that may be considered childish back home. I've seen adults with spinners. It's socially acceptable to play with toys here.

I actually didn't know what they were and I still don't have a clear idea what they do but if they can help you stay grounded, I'm all for that! I'm on the autistic spectrum as well. I might have to look into these spinners.

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I was just explaining to someone not even an hour ago about how I say something in my head and it comes out of my mouth completely different! haha. Also, I went to a psychiatrist once for depression and anxiety, but he mentioned that I could possibly have ADHD too and tried to medicate me for it. I left then and never went back because ADHD doesn't fit me very well and I thought it was odd that he'd think that. When I got my Autism diagnosis I started to see how he could have thought that it was ADHD because there are many similarities.

I was misdiagnosed as well! It seems a lot of people on the autistic spectrum get misdiagnosed, possibly due to the wide range of behaviors and characteristics that it encompasses. Bias can also be a part of misdiagnosis as well. Women/NB people with autism are less likely to be diagnosed than men and when they are, usually it's caught later when they're older. There are also studies showing a racial bias.

 

[pawpatrolbab]

I think as long as people who don't need them have them keep it under control. Ex: Not playing with it in class, distracting others, using it to hurt others. It should be fine.

I orally stim and when I go visit my husband a friends giving me a chewy necklace and I'm so excited!