Meanwhile… 055
Meanwhile… 055
This cartoon was another case of me starting with what seemed a trivial notion at first - that of a super-hero plagued by the iconic noise effects used in comics - only to realise as it progressed that it had a deeper, personal resonance.
Like many Autistics, I can be sensitive to sound, but that in itself tends to adjust to what’s happening (or has already happened) in the environment at large and what I’ve already had to traverse throughout the day, or even week, sometimes.
Working in the child-care setting, I’m quite at home in a room or yard with as many as 20 to 40 children and the noise levels and the conversations of the children are easy for me to follow and navigate. But put me in a staff-room with more than 3 adults talking, and it’s like nails down a chalk-board. It’s like static that puts me on edge, and as near as I can figure, it has a lot to do with pitch and tone, let alone intent.
Children say a great many things because they’re processing and celebrating what’s new, exciting and meaningful - it’s how they learn. Adults fill silence with “things” because it’s somewhat of a social expectation, and often it’s just conversation for conversation’s sake - something that I get, but at the same time don’t get.
I began to realise while making this comic instalment that there’s an affinity I feel for the character with their plight of having noises both relevant and incidental mounting up, inspiring them to silence at times to simply limit what they have to carry.
It’s something I can identify with, knowing that I may be talkative in many social settings, most certainly while working with children, but I can also suddenly flip towards a reserved quiet that may come across as rude and dismissive to some people, which it’s not at all intended to be.
It’s just simply that my brain’s had enough noise or activity, and I’d rather not add to it by making noise of my own.
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