Video Transcription

STIMMING what is it and how can we support others?

[Music]
Hey, uh, you okay?
How—what do you mean? You seem a bit distracted.
What’s this thing you’re doing?
Oh, no, man. I’m just stemming.
Okay. Are you sure you’re not overwhelmed?
Uh, probably a little bit. We are filming this thing.
Yeah, we are, uh, to teach you guys about stemming and sensory needs.
You see, many people, especially those with autism and ADHD, are often overwhelmed or understimulated by our environments. Stemming is a great way of regulating my senses when I feel like that.
Yeah, but it’s not just autistic people.
Everyone is capable of stemming in some capacity.
Yeah, absolutely. Like, have you ever bounced your leg or tapped your fingers on a desk?
It could even be humming or repeating a catchy song lyric over and over again.
A few of you watching this have probably stemmed in the past—maybe even today—and that makes a lot of sense.

Like, our bodies hold a lot of our stresses and anxieties, and stemming is a fantastic way of letting go of some of that tension.
Yeah, and what do you say to people who say it is distracting and eye-catching?
Like, wouldn’t doing it add to the stress?
That’s the thing. So many people who know that they stem often feel weird or anxious about doing it in public because of how other people react to it.
I guess it’s kind of like sneezing.
It’s a natural body reaction that’s a little bit distracting, but unlike sneezing, that’s seen like an everyday thing, stemming is seen as a bit of a problem because there’s no understanding for it.
Absolutely. And it’s not like all stems are physical.
Like, sure, there are really visible ones, like tapping your leg, but there are also verbal ones.
Like, I like to repeat mantras to myself that help ground me in my body and settle me back into the now.
Wow, that’s such a cool way of regulating, and something we all need to do because sensory overload is real.
It absolutely is, and we all have different sensitivities to the environment around us.
Some people are just more sensitive than others.
Yeah, neurodiverse people often have a higher sensitivity to sensory stimuli, so things like noises and lights can be extra loud or bright—or even things they touch can have intense textures to them.
That’s why they might feel the need to stem more often to help regulate their systems and keep themselves in the moment.
Yeah, I get you.
So, when you’re with someone who’s stemming, the best thing to do is just go with the flow.
Like, when I asked you before, that probably wasn’t very cool of me.
Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm by it, but yeah, just let me do my thing.
First of all, stemming isn’t the issue—
It’s the stigma around it.
Yeah, and then these conversations also help spread awareness.
‘Cause our friends can go out and educate others and help bring a collective understanding.
Yeah, and when we’re able to understand and accept the ways that we all self-regulate,
we’re able to show up with respect and compassion for our neurodivergent mates in the way that they keep themselves in the moment.
[Music]