For several months, I’ve planned to pen a series of essays about specific incidents from my life that illustate the complexities of mirror-touch synesthesia. I’ve written and then obliterated multiple opening paragraphs, and I’ve left my computer untouched for weeks. I’ve told myself I just haven’t had time to write; my summer’s been occupied by…
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Confessing My Syns (Part 1)
Twitchy Kid
That’s me on the right, kicking my sister Elizabeth on Halloween, 1967. “Stop it!” Elizabeth jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow, just as Kirk and Spock went to blows with each other on the planet Vulcan. “I didn’t do it!” I balked. How could I have done something to disturb her? I was…
Read MoreWhy Combinator
The one certainty in the world of synaesthesia is this: there is no clear answer to why a fraction of the population has it, and others don’t. There are as many theories about the origins and significance of synaesthesia as there are scientists studying it. Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University…
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Giving Voice to Synaesthesia
My experience with synaesthesia, and my relationship to it, is convoluted, a blend of fierce sensitivities and fascination. Mundane experiences are magnified by the filter of my braided sensations. I feel pain each day that is triggered by visual stimuli: one look at a shard of broken glass in the street and I feel electricity…
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