#sensory processing

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Understimulation & Sensory Seeking

Future ADHD

[a-spectacular-pigeon]

I fear some people may not realise that they have sensory processing issues because the way they're commonly described is not the way they present in everyone

The most common way I see people talk about sensory processing disorders is that the person is always consciously aware of all the noises and sensations around them. And it CAN be like that, but I've found the way it happens most often for me is that I straight up do not realise that something in my environment is bothering me.

Like, earlier I was at the laundrette, doing some washing, and I started feeling very agitated with no idea why. Then after a while, I realised that there was an alarm going off outside. The door was open, and someone's mobility scooter across the street was beeping. Not super quietly either! Once I realised the noise was happening, it was an extremely obvious and very irritating noise.

And you might be wondering; what's the difference between that and a neurotypical person ignoring the noise? The difference is in the processing space being used up. A neurotypical brain can hear a background noise, determine that it is non-salient, and just straight up stop listening to it. Whereas my brain is still listening to the noise, is still using brain power to observe and analyse the sound, it's just not letting my conscious mind be aware of it.

It's kind of like, imagine you were walking down the street, and you felt AWFUL. You're tired, you're breathing way harder than usual, your arms are KILLING you, you're sweaty and achy and you have no idea why. Then you look down, and suddenly realise that you are carrying a very big and heavy box. And even though you weren't aware of the box, you were still having to do a tremendous amount of work to carry it, and that was making you exhausted.

Now a neurotypical person, they can just identify the box as unimportant and put it down. They're not doing the work of carrying the box anymore. But I can't identify whether the box is important, so I have to keep carrying. But instead my brain just kind of. Makes me forget that it's there. I'm still doing all the labour but I don't know where the effort is coming from.

I'm honestly not entirely sure why that happens. I ~suspect~ that it is at least partly yet another casualty of autistic masking, but it's also might just be my brain trying to spare me from having to think about it. Which is a massive pain because if I was made aware of it I could have put my ear plugs in sooner and not have gotten so wound up.

My point is, you may feel like you don't have a sensory processing disorder because you seem to "tune out" a lot of annoying noises for a long time, but I implore you to consider whether they might actually be wearing you down more than you realised because. That's a thing that can happen. It happened to my good friend, me.

[celtib]

it would be a lot easier for me to watch TV and movies if time was more wibbly. reading a text i have full control over the pace and the chunk size, i can look at prior context without undue effort. there is no video player in the world that makes that as simple as it is with text, because then you're trying to fit one time inside of another time and neither of them like that. like, yes, i can scrub the video back and rewatch a segment but that's very discontinuous compared to glancing up at a previous sentence because the time part is important. i guess what i'm saying is i wish i could watch a video all at once. does that make sense?

[tekoi-khajay]

Sometimes I have very vivid dreams, with smells, tastes, and so on. I'd like to believe that I briefly inhabit a parallel world or remember life in that world.

I was once studying to be a violinist, and in a dream, the teacher I was taking extra lessons from told me to move the bow more slowly and smoothly, barely touching the strings. I've never studied music and don't understand where my brain got this idea from.

Another time, I dreamed that a portal to another world had opened. I remember there were two moons and really delicious fruit, tasting like a cross between pears and honey. I've never eaten anything like it and my sense of taste is pretty dull. In that dream, the taste was much more intense than my taste buds are capable of in waking life. How could my brain generate an experience I've never had and can't even imagine? Since then, food seems even more bland than usual—nothing compares to the taste of that ambrosia...

Recently, I dreamed I was undergoing a necromancer initiation rite. The teacher summoned a horde of zombies, disguised me as himself, and told me to walk through the undead line unharmed. It's like that mythical trope where you have to cross the bridge of the dead holding your breath so they don't spot the living soul in you. Only here could I breathe, even though my teacher was undead himself.

Like, I'm the Commander of the Reborn and I do what I want. I want to breathe, even though I'm dead, I want to dance among the ranks of zombies. And who's going to stop me, and who's going to object to me, a hollowed-out blockhead with a broken noggin or something?! Come on, you pieces of dog shit, give me some lip!

Anyway, that was the whole point of the test—to convincingly cosplay as a cocky prick so the zombies wouldn't recognize me as an impostor. How was I supposed to control the undead if I didn't inspire confidence? If you reek of weakness, the eternally hungry undead will devour you in a flash: they have no brains, and they don't understand that they themselves will die if they kill their master.

The dream is remarkable because the crowd of zombies, and I myself after the disguise, reeked of carrion so terribly that I felt nauseous. No one can stop the Commander of the Reborn from vomiting, but it's unpleasant for me, and the teacher will laugh out brazenly. And you have to get used to the smell: if a necromancer can't reek of weakness, then he must reek of death.

No, I know what rotten meat smells like. I even know what a corpse smells like. But I don't know what hundreds of zombies smell like. But my brain, it turns out, does. No, you can't just take the memory of a corpse and amplify it: the stench from rotting animals of various sizes varies not only in intensity but also... hmm... in nuance.

It's a shame I can't return to my old dreams and see how I'm doing as a violinist, what happened to the portal, and whether I passed my exams as a necromancer.

[elaurian-neuroqueering]

https://www.tumblr.com/cutiepieautistic/769793289450930176?source=share

I'd like to ask number 12 😊

Thanks for asking!

12. Are you more sensory seeking,or sensory avoident,or do you experience both to varying degrees,at different times?

Definitely both, depends on the sense and situation!

Food - Seeker. I LOVE crunch, and strong flavours. Plenty of spice, or sour. I generally prefer raw veg, for that CRUNCH. Absolutely adore salt and vinegar crisps, and one of the saddest things is a weak or stale crisp. Rich creamy textures also do it for me, I always blend soups and a good mac and cheese is the fucking business!

But if ARFID is kicking my ass, I can barely eat anything.

Visual - Seeker; maximalist to the core, blank spaces stress me out. I love really strong colours, trinkets, books in every room, layers of fabrics, optical illusions (never mamaged to see a Magic Eye picture, though!), cartoons, luscious sci fi (Pacific Rim ❤️‍🔥), flowers with interesting shapes...

Sounds - Avoidant/Mixed. I have appalling misophonia, and issues with auditory processing. Often, I can't bear to even listen to a song I love, or a podcast I'm enjoying, because I'm already too overwhelmed by sounds. Which sucks. It often isolates me from my wife and dog, which is lonely and frustrating. Most of my meltdowns are ultimately pushed over the edge by sound.

But, when I love a song, ooooooh....shivers!

Smell - Very mixed! I'll huff a mix of lavender and rosemary til I pass out, but patchouli smells like mould to me, and seriously gives me the boak. I love the smell but not taste of coffee and cooking doner meat. I regularly gag on the scents people wear in public, and still wear a mask in part to protect me from the smells of the world. But I will use excessive amounts of essential oils I do like, and turn into a damn bloodhound when I smell weed, wild rose, or lilac outdoors. Really mixed one, smell!

Touch - Mixed - Like sound, touch is one of the ways I get very easily disregulated. Soft touch can feel like being cheese grated. I love my weighted blanket, the feel of my cauldron mug full of tea, and stroking my soft toys. I love my dog pressing into me, leaning on me, but a soft nose touch can make me want to scream.

Ultimately, they're all a bit mixed. I love visual stimulation, but also struggle with misokinesia and sometimes movement can really stress me out.

I adore intense foods, but can't handle tons of textures and flavours.

I regularly seek frisson through music and scenes and ideas that thrill me, and can be rendered incapable by the sound of my dog licking his paws.

My sensory experience is often one of extremes. I broke a small bone and genuinely felt zero pain, but a dog whisker against my skin can feel like being stabbed. Sometimes I eat something so delicious I need to lie down, or have a cry, and sometimes a food I normally enjoy can trigger my ARFID and make me gag so hard my throat hurts.

Whether seeking or avoiding, it's never a happy medium!

[strkid]

Just made the most incredible technological discovery. Actually 2

1. My AirPods (wife) (fuck apple) fit under construction site ear protection

2. If you glue fluffy fabric to the outside of construction ear protection you get like twice the silencing power as you get from hard plastic

3. Fluffy fabric and sawdust are deeply in love with each other

[autistic-answers]

is it possible for sensory sensitivities to get worse as I get older? im autistic and feel this way

Yes, absolutely. A former therapist of mine said this can happen under stress. If you're in burnout, overstimulated, or just having a bad time, your sensory sensitivities may worsen.

I can't speak to aging in general that well, but if you've been struggling in life lately, that could explain it. And there could be other stuff I can't think of/I'm not aware of right now.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with that. Please engage in lots of self-care and make sure you're getting enough quiet time. It's important to get your needs met.

[steampoweredshow]

Imagine being forced to touch something that makes your skin crawl, every single day, and being punished when you try to avoid it.

Dr Hayley Passmore told me a story about a man in prison who was labeled as "difficult" because he refused to do the dishes. When a staff member finally asked him why, the answer was simple: he hated the texture of the sponge.

Replacing that sponge with a dishcloth cost almost nothing, but it stopped the "behavioural incidents" immediately.

In the justice system, and in our schools and workplaces, we spend so much time punishing the what that we forget to ask the why.

Watch, listen, or read the full episode:

The justice system and community health with Hayley Passmore - STEAM Powered

The justice system is part of community health with more overlap than one might expect. So just as we've done with healthcare, how can we sh