01/01/2024
“There’s absolutely, categorically no denying that some autistic people’s sensory experiences are the best thing to them about being autistic…. So there’s this extraordinary juxtaposition on the one hand of sensory joy and on the other hand, sensory distress sometimes within the same individual.”
I feel like the idea that your greatest strength is often also your greatest weakness is a common and accepted one.
For me this also applies to my tactile and interoceptive sensory systems.
My hypersensitivity in both areas helps me excel as a manual therapist. When I feel safe and comfortable my hypersensitivity, especially with interoceptive awareness, leads to an incredibly rich internal experience, beyond what my words could ever describe. (I often wish I had skills as a painter because I feel like that would be the best way to depict the experience.)
However, the same hypersensitivity often leads to distress. The texture and pressure of clothing can easily be overwhelming to the point where my brain function and emotional state is affected. I can become irritable until I’m able to change my clothing (or take off that damn bra). The slight internal sensations that travel up the vagus nerve to our brain and help create our emotions that would go unnoticed by many, I instantly detect. This sometime leads to rapid changes in my emotional state with seemingly no reason to the people around me.
Learning about neuroscience and what is happening internally has helped me tremendously. Unstanding why something is happening allows for more self acceptance and less judgement. Now I’m learning to apply the idea of impermanence to those slight internal sensations and emotions when they arise so I can pause and let them pass or respond (instead of react) when necessary.
As a society we often only notice the negative aspect of sensory hypersensitivity because it can lead to a “disruptive” autistic meltdown. Often the postive aspect of sensory hypersensitivity goes unnoticed because for many it is an internal experience. If you have an autistic person in your life are you aware of the joy their hypersensitivity brings? If you are autistic please feel free to share your sensory joy in the comments.
▶ Watch this reel https://www.facebook.com/share/r/Vx73c8PTZ1Bk4SA9/?mibextid=cQnZ3id
