I Might Have Autistic Feet and Maybe Also Autistic Hair

Yesterday during a Googling adventure, I learned there are clues to autism in the feet.  

Oh!  Now I remember.  I was Googling cowlicks/hair whorls.

It came about because a conversation on Twitter.

Someone compared being defined by autism to being defined by diabetes. 

I think the point is that saying someone is autistic dehumanizes them to their autism when they are so much more than that. I would much rather be called someone with diabetes than a diabetic. I am more than just diabetes.

I joked back that almost everything about me is autistic except maybe my nose and hair.  I then added: Diabetes is about your pancreas.  And it would be strange for someone's pancreas to play that big of a part in their personality.  Autism is about our brains.  And our brains play a HUGE part in who we are.

Someone then reminded me that THERE is autistic hair.  Supposedly autistic people are supposed to have hair whorls and cowlicks.  It's actually on one of the autistic tests.  

I wasn't and am still not sure if I have these hair things.  Though I got some indication that the ugly part I sometimes see in the back of my head might be one of these things.  I'm not sure.  

Anyway,  whether or not I have hair whorls, I decided my hair IS autistic.  For the past few years, I wore it up even though I preferred how it looked down (if I didn't see the back via a mirror or photograph), because of sensory issues.  And now I have it cut short...for sensory issues and also the hope it was a step up appearance-wise from wearing a pony tail all the time. (One thing: I can no longer easily see that ugly back-hair-part thing). 

I should also not that my hair is OCD, because having it short reduces the chance that it ends up touching gross/contamination type stuff.  

Onto the feet thing.  While trying to figure out the hair thing, I learned that in a study, 59% of autistic subjects were found to have a space between their big toe and the next toe.  This is called a sandal gap toe.  

I have this.  

My sandal gap toes + the rash-that-ended
up being a DVT

My sandal gap toes in their usual
winter glory. 

I didn't read the whole study....just read about it on a medical blog and a parent blog.  

In the latter, Laila Zain talks about her son being able to pick things up with his feet.  I used to do this.  I remember being at a friend's house when I was a child, and her Dad was amused/impressed.  I think I thought it was more about desire than ability.  I still don't know if that's the case.  Do other people not pick up things with their feet simply because they can't?

Please let me know if you have normal toes and pick up things with your feet.  

So....

Last night, after reading this, I became hyper-focused on feet.  I Googled while watching the final season of Ozark. 

After Ozark, I Googled images of celebrity feet and looked through my Google photos to try to see the feet of my family members and some friends.  

Hopefully feet won't be my next special-interest.

It would be somewhat tragic if this blog went from being about Australia to being a foot blog.  I might get more traffic, though.  

The other thing I feel compelled to confess is that I realized that through the years, I've taken a LOT of photos of my own feet.  It's definitely more because of medical intrigue and not because I have attractive feet.  

Before starting this post, I had considered making this a research-type post. I'd read more about WHY autistic people might have these weird toes.  But this is long enough.  If I do end up with a special interest in foots, maybe that will be a future post idea.  

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