In an attempt to combat loneliness and isolation within the autism community, an autistic person has decided to start a skin-picking group, it has been announced.
Research suggests the average autistic people sheds 50g of skin a year – the equivalent of a pot of Napolina grated Italian cheese.
Eli Port, 29, from Woolton, had spent years skin picking in complete solitude while worrying about bills, birthdays and that weird thing they said in the office last Thursday.
“I used to sit there all day doing it all by myself, like a very stressed out snake,” Port explained. “Instead of buying some Vaseline or finding a healthier coping mechanism, I thought: why not make it into a shared activity?”
“Yes, it might have been more conventional to start a book club or cross-stitching,” Port told us. “But there’s something about ripping a very fine layer of your own flesh off – and yelling out in pain every now and then – that’s incredibly soothing.”
Port continued: “Best of all, everybody gets a raw, bleeding wound at the end of it to take home.”
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