Now that they (don't) have our attention,
Fight, flight, freeze has the reins.
Thump, thump, thump goes my heart.
Couldn't they have just punched me in the face?
But no.
Punching is known to be violent.
Strobes?
Apparently not.
Computer games, commercials, supposedly provide them.
Warnings, warnings, warnings.
Even when they don't flash.
Can I get a notice before you actually strobe?
(Sooo one of the capstone groups thought strobe lights were a great way to get our attention before their presentation. And, in fact, it takes my heart rate longer to get back to baseline from that than from actually getting hit in the face. Not having epilepsy, my reaction is comparatively mild- strobes are not at risk of killing me- but seriously people need to not use strobes in class presentations, especially without warning. What if there was a classmate who did have epilepsy instead of "just" sensory processing issues?)
Fight, flight, freeze has the reins.
Thump, thump, thump goes my heart.
Couldn't they have just punched me in the face?
But no.
Punching is known to be violent.
Strobes?
Apparently not.
Computer games, commercials, supposedly provide them.
Warnings, warnings, warnings.
Even when they don't flash.
Can I get a notice before you actually strobe?
(Sooo one of the capstone groups thought strobe lights were a great way to get our attention before their presentation. And, in fact, it takes my heart rate longer to get back to baseline from that than from actually getting hit in the face. Not having epilepsy, my reaction is comparatively mild- strobes are not at risk of killing me- but seriously people need to not use strobes in class presentations, especially without warning. What if there was a classmate who did have epilepsy instead of "just" sensory processing issues?)
At my twin daughters' high-school graduation they had a presentation with strobe lights AND smoke AND loud music with a heavy beat. I've never seen so many people in distress --both in the graduation class and in the audience-- in a situation meant to be non-threatening. One of my daughters and I were looking at each other helplessly, unable to run away because she was in the middle of the class and I was in the middle of the second row of the audience.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a letter afterwards, "I know for a fact that there are autistic people and people with asthma in that class," (my twins are one of each) "doesn't the committee know?" Never got an answer, and everybody including the committee was leaving school so those people couldn't carry it to the next year, but I hope someone in the faculty picked it up.