Thread by @JHMarble

Why just meet for coffee when you can stim and watch elevators? I credit @autsomesmiles as the person who helped me come out as autistic. She credits me as the person who helped her come out as a lesbian. #GoTeam!

Watching elevators at the Hyatt Regency in Arlington, VA.
❤️♾

We met as adults, but soon discovered that we had a lifelong special interest elevators at hotels designed by the late Atlanta architect #JohnPortman (@portman_arch). As autistic kids, we’d make our parents take us to watch the mesmerizing glass elevators he put in his hotels.

It was #JohnPortman who invented the atrium hotel. As an autistic kid, whenever I’d visit family in Atlanta, the first thing I’d make them do is take me to watch elevators in the cavernous 53-story high @AtlMarriottMarq. It was heaven for an autistic child. I’d watch for hours.

Samantha (@autsomesmiles) and I may be adults now, but we’re still autistic. We still love watching the glass elevators in the hotels he designed. They are so visually stimmy. #AutisticJoy

[Video Description: Two Naval officers riding a hotel atrium in a glass elevator.]

I mean, look! You can also hear @autsomesmiles telling a stranger all about #JohnPortman elevators. He saw us looking up and wondered what we were watching. He hadn’t noticed the elevators until we pointed them out.

[Video Description: A glass elevator descending in an atrium.]