technician providing a service

[resolute]

I am so looking forward to next week, when I get more steroid shots in my feet, and also have an appointment with my pain management specialist. In the meantime, I am stoned a lot of the time. (Ibuprofen works, but not in safe amounts, prescription NSAIDs have not worked so far, Tylenol is a joke for this, opioids are not a long-term solution, and also they make be puke my guts out, I have a medical THC prescription.) Under normal circumstances the amount of pain I have is controlled by an amount of weed that does not make me appreciably stoned. But for the last couple weeks the amount needed to control pain has been over that amount.

I have not done much driving, let me assure you.

That said, I got a ride to and from my preferred acupressure massage place today. It was great.

I go to a massage place where there is a significant language barrier between me and the employees. I love this. I do not want to have any conversations with the technicians providing this service. This is for a couple of autistic reasons.

First is that I prefer to maintain the pretense that a body is a device used for hauling personhood around from place to place. I know this is false, thank you. But I prefer my maintenance to be as impersonal and matter-of-fact as possible. I do not expect or want incense and/or gently trickling water in my pre-op room at the hospital, I do not want it during a massage. I do not want to CONVERSE, I just want to get the repair and pay the bill.

Second is that I find physical touch to be so sensorily overwhelming that I prefer to be able to concentrate on what the fuck is happening, where are my limbs, oh my god does that tendon MOVE are you kidding me, etc. This is more easily accomplished if I do not also have to socially mask and concentrate on the bajillion fucking things my culture expects me to keep track of and perform correctly with 100% accuracy.

No, no thank you.

I really enjoy my acupressure massage place, it meets my needs perfectly. And it's close to my house!

Comments

[flamingsword]

As an autistic person, I get this, and as an autistic massage therapist, I wish you were one of my clients, because gah! It would be so much easier and more restful for me to solve the puzzle of someone's body and its pain if I weren't having to mask while they tell me the story of their life. I like massages where I can give people maybe 3 to 5 instructions along the lines of "I'm going to work into this knot. Deep breaths," or "Let me know if the pressure is to much or too little". Your therapists must just love working on you!