Synaesthesia and Autism
Written on 20th Nov 2013 by Sylvia Lowery
Synaesthesia is a condition where individuals find their senses are mixed up. They might taste a word or think of colours when they listen to music.
Hearing the word Vimto makes Alex taste Vimto in his mouth.
A recent study has linked Synaesthesia to autism and claims that individuals with autism have a 1 in 5 chance of having this condition.
Alex experiences some of these feelings. Alex says,” I remember feeling that days of the week were a person, so for example Tuesday was a woman with long teeth. Friday was a man frying things in a pan.”
Alex finds some words are painful, ” I really don’t like the word skin because when that word is mentioned I feel sick, as if it is being peeled off someone. I feel delicate like I’m about to collapse on the floor.”
Alex feels sick when people talk about the heart pumping blood around the body. He feels like it’s happening to him like he’s the heart.
Some words have taste to Alex he says, ” The word Vimto tastes like Vimto, it’s like I can taste it when the word is used. When I taste Vimto I can hear the word.”
Alex describes how words create sounds and rhythm in his head affect him, ” Words with syllables are like a tap on the ground, words like ‘at’ and ‘on’ have a heel tap on the ground and words like ‘do’ and ‘it’ have the end/middle of the foot hitting.”
Alex can feel like things he sees and hears are happening to him, “In Ice Age 3 I felt really sick, this fur was coming off this creature and I felt like my outer layer was being pulled off. It was really painful. I was sitting next to a load of other kids in a cinema and I shouted out “Owww!!!” in a really loud voice.”
Links
Personal experience Synaesthesia Association
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