@CynAq Yes, absolutely! I am #aphantasic but the folks I follow at the Aphantasia Network classify all levels of phantasia as on a spectrum.

@dyani Very interesting! And very impressive!

I’m pretty sure I can’t do what you’re doing, although I can more or less solve it by tracing paths around the maze with my eyes

That’s a little painful for me because the black-and-white image dances all over the place with blotches of colour popping up, but that could be an artefact of my glasses-corrected eyesight

I’m curious to know whether you can separate out the parts of the image ‘in your mind’s eye’ (something I couldn’t do being #aphantasic)

#Introduction

This is one of my various personas and is probably the main one right now. I am an artist (with multiple creative outlets), data scientist, python dev, #FOSS advocate, #Neurodiversity championm and general gobshite.

I am #autistic, #ADHD (#AuDHD) #aphantasic, #hyperempathic #ProbablyABunchOfOtherStuffic

I live in central #Scotland. I'm the father of teens. I'm not nearly odd enough for my liking.

Expect inane rambling, politcal opinion, bad puns, the odd artwork, general nonsense, and frequent expositions relating to my mentsl health (or lack thereof).

Other inarnations of me: @AlexTheAutisticArtist
@autumn (my digital/(re)generative art alter-ego. She's hotter, smarter and funnier than me)
@august (the 50's pulp sci-fi author I wish I was. Kilgore Trout wannabe)
@AlexLovelessArtist (dedicated artist profile that I've yet to do anything with)

Expect other personas to appear at random.

By way of #introduction

Besides posting meds reminders 😉 I am interested in connecting with the #ActuallyAutistic and wider #neurodivergent community (I’m also #ActuallyADHD and #aphantasic)

I like to engage in Autistic advocacy, and #DisabledRights advocacy more broadly, when I have the spoons

Special interests currently include #music, #Lego and #RailwaySignalling

I’ll probably revisit this intro later if I decide to make a permanent home here in this corner of the fediverse 😊

@transponderings

Your post also made me realise why techniques like memory palaces have been utterly useless to me.

Thanks for writing it and describing the #aphantasic experience so well! (lol I initially wrote #aphantastic)

#aphantasia

(2/2)

Somewhat related to this, I’ve recently wondered whether #aphantasic people experience #PTSD ‘flashbacks’ in the same way as hyperphantasic or typically phantasic people

I sometimes feel waves of intense negative emotion (fear, shame etc.) when something causes me to (abstractly) relive a painful event (or the common element connecting lots of similar events)

Are these experiences related in any way to the vivid sensory flashbacks that many people with PTSD are reported to have? Or do #aphantasics experience the same kind of full-sensory #dissociation as typically phantasic people (if they have flashbacks)?

This question popped up in my head because I recognised something in common between the intense in-the-moment feelings associated with mentally revisiting (but not sensorily re-experiencing) (a) instances of being misunderstood or disbelieved, especially as a child, and (b) instances of acute bodily trauma that I’ve experienced, including a fairly recent one at the start of this year

Any thoughts?

Maybe I should talk about this with my counsellor tomorrow

https://weirder.earth/@transponderings/108714729888743221

Nevertheless, if you want to refer to me, my pronouns are (in English) she/her, (en français) elle/la, agus (sa Ghàidhlig) i/ise

I’m here on my second attempt at living in the fediverse, having finally extricated myself (mostly) from the birdsite

I’m in my mid 50s (at the time of writing), and my profile pic is of me, now with glasses, which I always wear (when I want to see anything)

(I don’t see anything when I shut my eyes – I’m #aphantasic)

2/5

Do any of you who are #aphantasic (#aphantasia = no ‘mind’s eye’) play #DAndD (#DungeonsAndDragons)?

I just started my first game this evening, and found it almost impossible to follow what was happening, let alone enjoy the story, because there was far too much description, and I didn’t know how to prioritise what was worth remembering given that I couldn’t actually visualise any of it