#sensory difficulties

[morbidvampyr]

adhd peeps: respond in comments/reblogs what ur least favorite sensory thingy is.

for me, its a particular smell. i cannot STAND it. i’ve only encountered it on two occasions but i have literally had panic attacks bc of it bc i freaking hate that smell so much it is the worst thing ever. it’s like a flowery scent and they were put in bathbombs and i just. i get sick smelling it. i get hella nauseous and anxious and have full out breakdowns and sensory overloads bc jesus i CANNOT STAND THAT SMELL

[kniemr]

probably been done before but I thought of how to let neurotypical people know a portion of what sensory overload is like (at least in my experience):

imagine the weird boat tunnel scene from willy wonky and the chocolate factory, but you’re listening to it through high quality headphones, bass-boosted on high volume and you’re extremely close to the screen so it’s bright and it hurts your eyes.

[scriptautistic]

Can an autistic extrovert still feel overwhelmed by the presence of a bunch of strangers?

Of course! Even if they are energized by the presence of other people, they can also feel overwhelmed:

For sensory reasons: people are noisy, maybe some of them wear perfume, depending on how many people there are it could lead to a very visually busy scene, and strangers will not be aware if your character is touch-sensitive, and might touch them.

Because interacting with people, especially strangers, is often difficult when you’re autistic: you’ve got to spend a lot of energy to navigate social rules and to figure out when it’s your time to speak and this kind of things. That can be very draining and stressful.

Because, for their own safety or because of internalized ableism, they need to put in a lot of effort to try and pass as neurotypical, which might involve making a lot of eye contact, keeping themself from stimming, watching their posture and the volume of their voice, etc. That is also extremely tiring and demanding.

Because, if there are many other people, there might be several conversations going at once, which is difficult and overwhelming when you’ve got auditory processing disorder.

Because social anxiety is very common in autistic people, it could make the situation very stressful for your character.

So the situation could be stressful and draining, which would leave your character much more vulnerable to being overwhelmed for sensory reasons.

-Mod Cat

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[fionawesome]

Poetry Time!

I am a poet but the world knows that i am bad at conversation,

I AM A POET AND THE WORLD KNOWS THAT I AM BAD AT CONVERSATION,

There are complications in my brain that make the normal feel inane

And inside the mind of this wide-eyed

Easily distracted

Under achieving

Mess of a fucking human being

There is a,

Whirl,

A swirl of nervous energy

That comes rushing out whenever i try to open my mouth,

And this mouth of mine

This thinly drawn line on my face,

Can make space and time feel irrelevant

With the infinite galaxies of words that have passed,

From this tongue

To this mouth

To this world

But space and time can be lonely,

Because not everyone has developed warp speed

And,

Being able to deliver words from tongue to mouth

Doesn't guarantee they'll make their destination,

Doesn't mean that the placement

Of those words will mean you'll understand them

Because i could use my words to lick the whorls on your hand and not even know you,

I could trace your name upon the endless infinite void of friendship

And you would never hold me,

I am a poet and the world knows that i am bad at conversation

And i could scream a consecration upon the words with which i,

Stumble,

And,

Trip,

Through everyday life

But pre scripted conversations with spirits and gods and demons is harder work than you could imagine,

And not everything

Is a fucking mountain

When it could be just a molehill

But climb i do and follow you must

Because to understand my train of thought,

You've got to leap off the cliff

Down which i fall on a daily basis,

And you might clip your wings

And it might hurt,

And the world of swirling sights, sounds, smells, emotions and,

Fucking human experiences

That you might call a

Dance with the devil,

Is the sour liquid in which i take my shower,

Is the bitter water that I've learnt to drink,

Is the salty tear that i don't wipe away because,

There's plenty of chance

I'll cry again in a minute.

And you can climb and you can dive

But its probably not worth it,

probably not worth the hurt,

Probably not worth the devastating silence that this merry-go-round of life can bring.

But would you ever notice?

Would you ever understand the bloated,

Awkward,

Pause

Between my brain and my body?

Coz its there

Under the skin

Hiding in a place that my emotions have always been,

Too close to home

Yet hard to know,

Locked in time i spent alone

Locked in awkward applause for doing things that never felt at home

Under this skin of mine

This raincoat of thin white lines

Its there but you'd never see it,

Coz I wrote a poem about pissing my pants and

even then no-one tried to feel it,

No-one even tried to believe it,

No-one even dared to breathe the words

That might imply that we are far more complex than your fucked up understanding of what the word “functioning” actually means.

And yeah every day the yellow stain becomes more ingrained

And the growing pains of life become more chained

to my soul

And now matter how old I get,

It’ll always be hard to understand the sensation on the sole

Of my weary feet,

And these feet were made for walking,

But apparently talking and walking

are things that come easily to most people,

But I’m not most

people,

And so I can neither talk the talk nor walk the walk,

But let’s just chalk this up to experience

Because at 27 I’ve still got a long way to go

and still got a lot of things to,

Wait hang on,

I’m 27 and I find even the most basic things like conversation difficult,

This isn’t anything to do with experience,

So fuck off with your condescending crap

About how I don’t “look disabled”,

Or about how serious you were when you said that “trying harder” enabled

Your best mates, 3rd cousins, grandmas, dog,

to overcome having a wheel instead of a back leg

Because,

I’ve been trying harder all my life and so far

All it’s got me is,

GCSE’s, A-Levels, a degree,

And some fucking low self esteem

Which means your understanding is so far

Removed from my reality

That I can say without sarcastic wit or any ounce of insincerity,

TRYING HARD DOESN’T GET YOU ANYWHERE

When your starting line is

Far behind

Those you call your peers,

When the line in times continuum

Is distorted and continuing to run is a pointless effort in running out of breath,

When the death of your self-respect happens again and again on a daily basis,

When the world won’t let you catch up and sit still in stasis,

When every fucking word that lands in your ears is derived from apophasis.

I am a poet and the world doesn’t seem to know that i am bad at conversation.

Which makes me wonder

Why did i decide to become a sodding poet?!

[autism-asks]

I have issues with some textures and smells, particularly certain foods. My family thinks it's weird and I'm overreacting when I cant physically eat anything with corn or onions(even though baby corn is fine for some reason?)and I'd always unplug my mom's pumpkin room scent thing because it was super strong. My dad also smokes and even when he hasn't been smoking/already made sure my mom wouldnt smell it anymore I still notice and he doesn't get why I'm avoiding him. How do I cope with this?

HI Anon, that sounds super tough! I’m so sorry that you have to go through that.

I would definitely suggest sitting down with them in a setting where you can explain the difficulties you are having and what you think can be done to help those difficulties.

This could be as simple as “don’t plug in the pumpkin room scent whilst I’m in the same room”, or “please portion off my food before you add the onions”, things like that.

It might also help to read up on, and get familiar with why sensory processing difficulties are a thing, so that you have some good information to tell them. I’d suggest that they read this blog-post (and the related links) which might help them understand your difficulties with certain textures, smells and foods.

https://musingsofanaspie.com/sensory-processing/

And most importantly, remember, you are so fantastically awesome and so full of amazing potential, and you need to remember that in times like this. It’s ok to have sensory difficulties, sensory differences or just un-explainable sensory things™ going on, and you are 100% valid, no matter what those are.

Stay strong whilst you’re in this environment and you will make it through. If you keep having issues, maybe (if it’s safe to do so) try calmly, but forcefully stating your sensory boundaries. Repeating things as often as needed has really made my parents realise that I’m not going to be happy when they misgender or deadname me (I’m trans), and I’m sure it could work for other things too.

- Fiona

[inappropriateuseofstands]

sometimes i just can’t cope when my cat touches me i need her to get away immediately like i have a meltdown and she gets so confused

[autism-asks]

Is this a sensory hyper or hypo sensitivity: I like my music "loud" (I think it's loud but it's not at a high volume) but the only reason why is to feel the music so it's like pressure stimming for my ears. The actual loud-ness sound wise I hate, but deal with bc the feeling is so good. I might be HoH/ I can't hear low pitches so I love "listening" to low beats bc of the intense feelings without the painful sounds. I'm trying to figure out what type this is + is it relatable? Thanks!

Since we don’t know what volume you’re listening to, we can’t tell you whether or not it’s a sensitivity thing. It could be that you’re listening to it at what people without hypersensitivity would consider loud.

If it is at a lower sound than what most people would consider “loud” (find some allistics and ask them if they think it’s loud, it’s a pretty decent way to tell) then yes, it’s likely to be some hypersensitivity to the sound.

However, you did also mention that the tone/pitch of the sound plays a part, which could mean you’re hypersensitive to high pitches but not to lower ones (or you’re just not hearing them as well due to being HOH).

My suggestion would be to find some people and asking them whether they think music is “too loud” or “too quiet” and whether or not the bulk of them agree with you. That way you have a basis for figuring out your side of things if you want to figure out what it is.

(Regardless, thinking certain sounds are painful is an autistic thing and very much #relatable.)

- Os

[autisticdovewing]

Does anyone have any suggestions on helping me not be in Sensory Hell™ after a shower? Like I get really, really itchy and it usually doesn't stop for a few hours... Sorry this is kinda, out there? But I'd really like some help, cause lotions and stuff aren't really helping and I need some advice/suggestions! Any help is appreciated!!