smileyK Report post Posted August 3, 2012 has anyone else here got fear/anxiety panic around escalators mine to do with judging movement and is is linked/connected with A.S ??? if just literally 'freeze' on spot when see one feel panic dread sinking feeling as get scared worried i won't get on in time if there lift or stairs instead of using escalators i use them instead easier safer option for me causes less anxiety/stress/panic!!! does anyone know why get this reaction to them though? can't work out why?! at airport in turkey had no other option but to use these as only way get to boarding gate but was very wary resistant to get on started shaking in fear plams sweating .... XKLX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Special_talent123 Report post Posted August 3, 2012 Yes i worry im going to fall off looking down too Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A-S warrior Report post Posted August 3, 2012 i hate them, really hate them, i dont mind going up, but going down them makes me dizzy and sick. i always feel like im going to fall down. i,ll take the stairs at all costs if theres an option. if its an esculator going down i have to take a deep breath before i step on, oooo the very thought of it makes me shudder. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smileyK Report post Posted August 4, 2012 so glad it not just me .... makes me feel so much 'better' comfortable reassured as felt such a fool for not being able get on them! don't know what so scary or freaks me out about them ...??? XKLX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A-S warrior Report post Posted August 4, 2012 the worst escalators are the ones in churchill square brighton, you come down from the food court and infront of you is the steepest set of escalators ever, and each side of you is nothing but handrail and then a 40 foot drop. i hate heights too, so every time i go down them i have to really talk myself up, and then step on them clinging on to the rail lol i actully avoid going to eat there so i havent got to come down the escalator, and when i want to go down to the next floor i walk through multi story carpark, am i fu*k going down them ecalators! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeanneA Report post Posted August 4, 2012 Yes my son is the same regarding escalators. He seems scared of them. I have to admit to forgetting that once, as we were in town in debenhams and were going to the cafe to have a snack and I automatically took Glen onto the escalator, god I would never do that again. We did get up to the appropriate floor ok just but Glen wasn't a happy boy :-( We came down the stairs when we had finished our snack in the cafe :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lyndalou Report post Posted August 4, 2012 Whether or not I had a problem with escalators or lifts is one of the questions that came up in the Sensory Questionnaire I filled in last year. This was a tricky question to answer because although I am ok with them now, I had problems with them as a child. As a child, I can't remember being frightened of going on them but I got quite frustrated trying to walk onto them at the bottom because I couldn't judge when to get on and I could be standing putting my foot out, touching the metal and withdrawing it for minutes on end . When I was on I was fine but I usually ended up almost falling on my face when I got off at the top. Also the escalator handrail tended to move at a faster speed so when holding on I often was standing at a strange angle half way up. I always used the stairs going down. I must have trained myself quite well now on them. I still hesitate but I can judge the speed the escalator is moving and step on quite quickly. I prepare for getting off about 2 feet from the bottom and always step on the 'flat' bit with my right foot. On travelators at the airport, I love the sensation of moving forward very quickly!! in a ended up Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike_GX101 Report post Posted August 4, 2012 LOL - I love them except when stuck behind people who find them an excellent time to have a social get-together and I cannot get past them grhhh!! When I was kid though I used to enjoy go up the descending ones especially the quicker-pace ones LOL. I also remember the ones from the car park to the ticket booths at Disney Land Paris too when I was about 12 - wow that was pretty cool! Anyone else been on that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkshine Report post Posted August 4, 2012 I love them too, I like staying on til the very end and then I let the movement slide my feet - when I was a kid and my parents went to a shopping mall, I'd go and play on the escalators (and usually get lost lol - I've had more than my fair share of store announcements asking for my parents to collect me when I was a kid) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indiscreet Report post Posted August 4, 2012 I have no problem with the older type where the top couple of steps stay flat for long enough to get on but there's a newer type where from the top it just looks like a drop into space and that defeats me - I just can't do it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Isobel Report post Posted August 4, 2012 Most of them are fine in the shops in town, but I have been on some really fast ones going down and I didn't like them. I still need to look down and hesitate just slightly when stepping on them to go up or down. Sometimes I let a step go by before stepping on. Been to the london underground stations and some of them have really steep ones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike_GX101 Report post Posted August 4, 2012 I love them too, I like staying on til the very end and then I let the movement slide my feet - when I was a kid and my parents went to a shopping mall, I'd go and play on the escalators (and usually get lost lol - I've had more than my fair share of store announcements asking for my parents to collect me when I was a kid) LOL - just don't get your shoe laces trapped! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkshine Report post Posted August 4, 2012 LOL - just don't get your shoe laces trapped! Hasn't happened yet I also used to purposefully go up the down escalator and down the up one... Or I'd slide down the bit in the middle of two escalators... What really disappoints me is when stores have an up one and then stairs down - totally gutting, it's like being fobbed off with half an experience!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike_GX101 Report post Posted August 4, 2012 (edited) Another thing I used to enjoy doing when I was a kid was exploring hospitals so big they could swallow some towns - such as the General Hospital in Northampton (where I lived for about 7 years - i.e. the town, not the hospital LOL!). Did you know for example that the main corridor of Northampton General Hospital is about a mile long?!? LOL I also love exploring the old ruins of castles (even now) - especially the really big ones such as the one at Caernarfon. And of course old underground vaults too; I'm one of a very few number of people who has seen first-hand some of the old underground tunnels situated under Northampton dating back to Medieval times. And believe me they're spooooky!!!! Edited June 6, 2013 by trekster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Special_talent123 Report post Posted August 4, 2012 I would go on the lifts instead, I felt safer and not scared. Its also easier for me with my trolley bag when shopping Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkshine Report post Posted August 5, 2012 Hospitals, castles and vaults eh? And of course old underground vaults too; I'm one of a very few number of people who has seen first-hand some of the old underground tunnels situated under Northampton dating back to Medieval times. And believe me they're spooooky!!!! I would say this: But hey, I like castles and ruins and caves - and those vaults sound interesting - so was your exploration an official thing or a trespassing kinda thing lol What were the tunnels there for? What size were they? How far did they go? (I like creepy places, and spooky is cool) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SensitiveSoul Report post Posted August 5, 2012 Escalators don't bother me so much. They used to but that's just because of something my mum told me as a child which I now know is blatantly not true! I'm absolutely fine with ones going up, my only slight problem is getting on one that's going down. I have to hold on for dear life because I'm scared of missing my footing because I'm a bit uncoordinated and clumsy. I'm not scared of them though. I'm more afraid of lifts, but again it's nothing to do with my AS. Just an overwhelming fear of getting trapped. I have this huge fear of being trapped - and not just in small spaces. You could lock me in a huge room, and I'd still freak out because I'd know I was trapped in there! I always, always, always take the stairs where possible! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkshine Report post Posted August 5, 2012 When I was a kid, there was a supermarket called Gateway, and when my brother took me in the lift he'd open the doors halfway up so the lift stopped and we'd be staring at a brick wall - that was so brilliant!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indiscreet Report post Posted August 5, 2012 Escalators don't bother me so much. They used to but that's just because of something my mum told me as a child which I now know is blatantly not true! Did she tell you that if part of you got caught in the mechanism it would drag you inside - that's what my mother told me! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SensitiveSoul Report post Posted August 6, 2012 Did she tell you that if part of you got caught in the mechanism it would drag you inside - that's what my mother told me! Not exactly, but along those lines, yes. I wasn't going to say exactly what she said because I don't want to freak anybody out! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aeolienne Report post Posted May 26, 2013 I used to be OK on escalators, but for the past year or so I've been getting attacks of vertigo. I only feel comfortable walking up or down escalators if I'm holding on with my right hand, but this goes against the Tube's rule of "stand on the right, walk on the left" so I just stand. Whether this is related to the PTSD from the car accident, my lost ability to ride a bicycle after the shoulder injury or something else I don't know. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmyPond Report post Posted May 27, 2013 I have to let two steps go past on a going down escalator before I get on. I didn't realise it was specifically two until a friend of mine pointed it out a few years ago. I'm fine going UP escalators, but have to hesitate/let the required number of steps go past until I can get on. And I had a panic attack trying to get out of Northampton General Hospital years ago - like a maze and I couldn't find my way out!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trekster Report post Posted June 2, 2013 Colorimeter glasses helped me with escalators as did omega 3 oils. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Echo Report post Posted June 3, 2013 I am absolutely terrified of escalators!!! The ones going up are easier to navigate (it takes me a while and I mean a while to psyche myself up to go on one), however, I'll only enter the shops if they have a lift or a set of stairs as an alternate route back out/down. Shopping trips in cities with me are a nightmare when almost all the shops we want to go to are up the escalators This has been a lifetime thing, as a child I'd meltdown at the thought of going to a shop that had one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smileyK Report post Posted June 26, 2013 @ Amy Pond - do you live near/in Northampton then??? x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
