ch 7: atypical interests: "One individual talked about floor plans of houses, stating, “I used to get thick magazines of them in the mail and I would spend all day looking at these and imagining myself living in them. I had a massive stack of them under my bed. And I would spend hours drawing my own.”" um, hmm, it me? i totally did this as a child, tbh also sometimes as an adult now that i bought land to build on, but it's been a lifelong dream to build my own home like my parents and grandparents did.
other interests from the list of female autism interests: reading, animals (in particular horses for me), gardening and nature (i have a huge plant spreadsheet i made as a distraction in the early days of covid), crafting (in particular knitting and quilting), and daydreaming
ch 8: sensory: i definitely have been sensitive all my life- i dislike especially scratchy wool sweaters and some itchy tags on clothes, unpleasant scents and even ones that should be pleasant but are too intense like the perfume area of a department store, and the high-pitched whine of crt displays and electronics esp when they're charging. i still cover my ears for sirens when i'm walking and they drive past because they're so loud it hurts, and i wear earplugs for concerts so they're enjoyable not painful.