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Scared of heights

zurb

zurb

Eschewer of Obfuscation
In another thread
wyverary said:
Same! I am too short to reach any of my ceiling lights and I have a phobia of ladders. One of my bulbs has been burnt out for a couple of months.
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I remember back in kindergarten cautiously climbing onto the first rung of the slide and thinking I'd conquered the world. I'm still afraid of heights and feel more unstable the higher I'm perched.
I'm wondering, is fear of heights common among aspies (maybe due to awareness of coordination issues) or of equal occurrence to NTs. How do you respond to heights?
 
High places are not so bad, it is not the fall that kills ya, it is the sudden stop at the end I do not care for.
 
I was an aviator in my past and have no issues with altitude if I am outside.

When in an enclosed space,heights bother me to the point of freezing up when I have a ceiling to give me proximity.
 
I do not have any problems with ladders, since I have never seen a ladder made to carry more then 250 pounds, and I have not been under 250 pounds since middle school. I am not climbing on anything that is going to break and drop me on the hard ground!
 
I have grown increasingly acrophobic over the years. Unfortunately large portions of my work are at such great heights, working off a ladder, lift, bucket lift, scaffolding, roof tops.

I get dizzy/ vertigo at heights of over 15 feet.


Fun fact, heighth is NOT a word, it's always height. Because of length width height, people say heighth, you would be suprised how often I hear people use this incorrectly. :P
 
I'm not scared of heights, I'm scared of the potential for injury as a result of falling from those heights. If there's no risk of falling, the heights don't bother me.
 
I'm quite indifferent to heights, however, I feel extremely uncomfortable when trapped in the air in a static object. I'm not claustrophobic either, it only really happens in elevators that stop and Ferris wheels.
I'm going to share a little story from couple of years ago, since it still makes me laugh. Me and my boyfriend visited a park in my home town. I hadn't been on Ferris wheel since I was a kid and I didn't really remember why I didn't like them. We had tried a lot of stuff in the park at which point I thought that whatever it was about Ferris wheels I didn't like couldn't be that bad. Everything was going really well as long as the wheel kept spinning, but it changed real fast once it stopped. I started crying hysterically, not just tears running, weeping loudly like a little child, trying to hold on to everything, roof, benches, my boyfriend who at first didn't realize I was serious. I was so happy we were the only people in the cabin, though I think the guys operating the wheel must have had a good laugh.
 
I hate heights, ever since that preschool teacher pushed me on a swing when I didn't want to be pushed on it :/ Maybe it's psychological thing or something ...
 
Ste11aeres said:
Why do adults do those things to kids?
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They get drunk and think it is funny to throw you off a 20+ foot high stair case, or hold your head under water in the pool until you black out. At least judging by their laughter once you wake up and limp away hurt.
 
As one of my past classmates clarified "you do not actually fear heights, you fear falling from a great height". Eh. Fear of height/falling/whatever is very common. My grandmother is especially scared of it, even more than me. She's normal, but the sensation is the same between us: some invisible hand grabbing on to you and trying to pull you over the edge. Honestly, I know very few people who aren't skittish of high places. If I'm strapped in, I'm not so bad. Roller coasters and amusement parks are a lot of fun, so long as I remind myself that something that complex is statistically impossible to be accident free and past people were victims of reality and not intentionally negligent workers.
 
Since I was quoted in this post, I suppose I am obligated to respond. :P

Yes, I suppose in general I am afraid of heights. It really depends. I have stood at the top of a thousand-foot-plus canyon and gazed down into the river below, and it was terrifying, yet exhilarating.

When it comes to ferris wheels? Well, I guess my most recent experience with that was at the Bonnaroo festival. I sort of thought about waiting in line to ride it, but I wound up eating some psychedelic mushrooms instead which convinced me it would be a MUCH better idea to sit on the ground and just stare at it (this was at night time, obviously). Had I ridden it in that condition, I probably would have been scarred for life! In general, though, I do not like ferris wheels. I don't care how many safeguards they have in place; I don't like the fact that I am just one metal bar away from a 200-foot drop.
 
I went Abseiling a few years back. The actual Abseiling was not scary. Once I was on the cliff wall, hopping downwards, it was fine. It was the transition from horizontal to vertical that was scary. That first lean over the edge.

I find that with the roof of the house too. It's climbing on and off the ladder that is fearful. Admittedly that's the most likely time to fall. But when I am up, no problems.
 
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