Alt Text (Written by Iris Xie)

There are three white shelves, with mounds of tan kinetic sand that are placed on the shelves. They are large, over 15 pounds each, and have contrasting surfaces of smoothness and roughness, with the sand particles breaking away from eachother
to show texture.
 

Medium: kinetic sand, 5-10 lbs on each shelf 

Dimensions: a pile fits on a 12 x 24 in wide shelf  

 

Stim How You Want! first started as an exploration of creating stim toys based on the concept of crip technoscience to expand possibilities of disabled people creating their own technologies to support their existence and needs in an ableist world. Stimming is defined as a repetitive activity that helps self soothe the person doing the activity. Everyone stims but neurodivergent folks are more well-known for doing it, especially to cope with the difficulty of being in an ableist world. I wanted to create an original stim toy that could be added to the lexicon of technologies. 

 

By engaging with textural objects that stimulate neurodivergent folks’ senses in order to cope with being in an ableist world, the kinetic sand medium allows the user to mold it and shape into any form for easy reshaping. By encouraging the participant to mold, squish, and flow the sand together, it helps create an experience that is satisfying and soothing, while naming the importance of stimming as a lived experience.