It happened with me this year, windy autumn day, looking for gulls, going down the slope I see small white bird with black wing and white primaries and some dark spots on the body, I assume it to be a snow bunting, it flies for about 2 metres and disappears behind the stone, I try to chase it from the other side, it’s not there, I go around like 5 times and spend ~30 mins crying while going rounds searching for it, then take my smartphone, look up snow bunting, it’s not how I see it, it was never there. And I wasn’t even thinking about it at all that day.
Showers also can cause some weird things, I once saw my hairs on the legs being like 5 times thicker than any hair would be, and they disappeared when I touched them, it’s not hallucination but a true illusion as what the brain made up was based on something, but still.
I will say that when I am on a road trip, I go to bed at night and “see” a crazy mosaic of highway signs.
Several years ago someone posted a link to an autism test to Taxacom, a listserv for taxonomists, and nearly everyone on it scored well into the autism range. I think there’s a strong correlation between the two, and I include being a naturalist in general along with being a taxonomist. I’m a professional taxonomist, and most of those I know at least have a lot of autistic traits even if they wouldn’t be diagnosed (I know several who undoubtedly would, though I don’t know that they have been). Personally I’m borderline and probably wouldn’t be diagnosed, though it doesn’t feel like I belong clearly in either group. I spent a lot of time – like 30+ years – wondering why everyone else was so weird, before finally realizing that I was the weird one.
One difference I’ve noticed between what one might call “typical” diagnosed people with autism (if such a thing exists) and what I call “taxonomist syndrome” is that the former often have great difficulty detecting sarcasm – not only online, but in person – while the latter tend to be among the most sarcastic people out there.
I don’t find it surprising that there would be a high correlation. A person who is deeply interested in categorization, organization, order, and the like is far more likely to become a taxonomist than the average person. Those interests can be found in the full range of the autistic spectrum nearly all the way until the “neurotypical” end. Autistic people almost always have those traits. The mistake these tests make is to assume that all people with extreme levels of those traits are autistic. Strong correlation, a useful tool for understanding oneself, but hardly a diagnosis.
And I very much relate to the sensation of suddenly realizing my worldview, and even the way I receive basic sensory input, was unusual.
Anyone else get migraines … after too much time gazing at the screen?
Not a migraine (thank the Lord), but my eyes go quite wonky and I get nerve root pain in my neck and arm.
It’s hard to have a screen addiction - even in a good cause, LOL!
The sensation of insects crawling on your skin when there are none is called “formication”, from the word “formis” meaning ant.
I had formication a lot during the hormone changes of perimenopause. At times it was so strong that it felt as if my skin was being sand-papered. Often the sensation was all over my body, but it was usually worse on my extremities.
Formication can have many other causes too.
But interestingly enough, that sensation can sometimes lead people to believe they really do have insects crawling on them and biting them. A strong belief in imaginary insects that are on or in your skin, is called delusional parasitosis.
I knew someone who had that. I could not convince him that any insect strong enough to be able to bite through skin would also be big enough to be visible to the naked eye. He also thought he had evidence of insect bites, because he found tiny raised red dots on his skin, but they were angiomas, a common aging thing. He did not have scabies, but he eventually convinced a doctor to treat him for that condition.
My husband has Prosopagnosia, not as bad as what Oliver Sacks had, but still quite noticeable.
I almost always have to tell him in advance who someone is, when we are about to run into them on the street or at a party.
And if someone we know changes their haircut, grows facial hair, gets glasses, or otherwise changes their appearance, that usually throws him completely.
When we are watching a movie it can be very difficult for him to track what is happening to the characters, especially when two of them are more or less the same physical “type”.
One time he was unable to recognize me when I was getting off a day-long ferry and had all of my hair pulled back under a tightly wrapped headscarf – a way of doing things that he had never seen on me before.
He was waiting alongside of someone who knew me a little bit and she pointed at me and said, “That’s Susan there, isn’t it?” and Ed said, “No, that’s not her”.
This isn’t quite true – bird, rat, and itch mites are barely visible, and chiggers burrow into the skin rather than biting through it (though they’re gone by the time it starts itching). Also some ants are small enough that they might be missed by someone without good eyesight, but can deliver a surprisingly strong sting (e.g. little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata).
But the small red raised dots that this person thought were insect bites were big enough that the culprit would have had to have been at least the size of a Florida “No-see-um”, which, despite the name, are in fact quite visible to the naked eye.
Also you could not feel those extremely tiny mites that you mentioned if they were running on your skin – it would not be like the sensation of an ant walking or running on your skin.
In any case, the red dots that guy had were angiomas, a skin thing that we all get with aging, and which has nothing at all to do with insects.
For me, the effect is more auditory than visual. I always have some sort of auditory thing going on in my head anyway, whether it’s rock guitar music (I don’t actually like rock guitar music), white noise, or me mentally verbalizing what I’m thinking.
But then there are other times. Like right now I’m processing some songmeter recordings. Sometimes the entire recording is 30 minutes of white noise, due to the microphones picking up the babbling brook, leaves blowing in the wind, or the rain falling. Within that noise, I have to be very careful that the Black-and-white Warbler that my brain tells me that I can hear is actually there and not something my brain has created.
These noisy revelations can also be stress related. After my mom had died, my cell phone kept ringing. Except it wasn’t.
((HUGS)) I’m sorry for your loss. After my dog died, I kept tripping over her. Except I wasn’t.
(This was long, long ago.)
Thanks, teellbee. It’s hard to believe it’ll be 8 years ago when she died. The memory of that phone ringing at various times for a while is still pretty vivid.
Just like your memory of tripping over your dog. They mean so much, don’t they!
I’m pretty socially anxious in real life, but iNaturalist really helps me bring myself out in conversation and discussion with other users. Online forums and communities are really cool that way! I can’t wait for quarantine to be over so we can start working together in BioBlitzes and such again!
Most of the autistic people I talk to (admittedly mostly online, not sure if it matters) are quite sarcastic, sometimes excessively so, but sometimes we do miss sarcasm or even use it too much. I think I process sarcasm as literal at first, and then a second later my brain analyzes and reinterprets. Same with figures of speech, I understand what they mean because I have learned what they mean, but i may envision the literal image too. (raining cats and dogs, etc)
The relative ability of some autistic people (and other neurodivergent groups) to blend in or appear ‘normal’ is called ‘masking’. Most of us can do it to varying extent, and to many people including me it has become subconscious over the years, so we often don’t even realize that we are doing it. Late diagnosis is a bit of a surreal identity crisis, really. One form of masking is just putting yourself in situations where autistic traits aren’t problems and often are advantages. Taxonomy and other science involving classification and pattern analysis are great examples here. If these taxonomists were not able to work in this or a similar field for whatever reason, they probably would not be doing so well. I do great as a field ecologist with limited office time around other likely neurodivergent people, but if i were in an intense office job with lots of meetings and phone calls and necessity to be quiet and dress and act a certain way… i’d probably get fired pretty quick. Thus, most autistic people I have encountered don’t like the ‘function labels’ as ‘function’ is as much luck and privilege and the specifics of an individuals sensory ands kill profile, etc etc as anything. And most people referred to as ‘having severe autism’ usually have autism plus other stuff (‘comorbids’)
In general from what i can see and have heard from other autistic people, the spectrum doesn’t really go from neurotypical to ‘really autistic’, rather the spectrum kind of surrounds neurotypical like an annular eclipse. It also seems like we are all different but one is either autistic or not. But, we are also prone to binary thinking so take that as you will :)
I feel like most autistic people get migraines, often sensory triggered. I am lucky mine are usually mild and respond to advil if i catch them early.
touch isn’t totally ignored if you’re on a computer - at least for me typing is a tactile experience.
If I’m overloaded I’m less likely to look at the notifications and more likely to just go observe cuz sometimes reading becomes too difficult if i’m experiencing too much in the real world but also iNat can help because observing means I have to focus on the creature I’m observing and sometimes that can calm me enough to not be overwhelmed anymore
In case anyone is interested… i compiled a bunch of home videos of me as a kid with some autism info. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_n1-fxYHnx5J1hFA-b_dCBe9JOmTSk8d . Fun that i am already talking about nature and science stuff… i basically always was.
Reading and watching those videos brought back memories of some things I used to do (and some I still do).
Honestly, you were such an adorable child! 
It was really great to see your videos. The little ones next door (I babysat them before covid) maybe autistic, but assessments are not completed.
I don’t like to self-diagnose, even if it’s not a medical condition, but this sounds exactly like me except for the “concentrate deeply with a high degree of focus”. I mentally jump from one thing to the next, like project to project, but generally meet deadlines. I just cannot sit down and pay attention to the same subject for very long unless I really, really enjoy that subject.
One thing I’ll say is that being so sensitive to minuscule changes in the environment really helps with being a naturalist :). Knowing a spicebush is around the corner because you smell them before you see them is a fun novelty too.