In the video above, we aim to show the challenges of sensory sensitivity and perception faced by autistic individuals through animation and storytelling.
It explores the daily struggles of overwhelming sensory environments and how it may affect neurodivergent indivioduals, as well as share valuable insights into coping strategies.
Autism is a condition that affects around 75 million people worldwide in many different ways. Autistic people face the challenge of sensory overload daily, due to being hypersensitive, or hyposensitive, to sound, light, touch, taste, and smell. For example, being at school, at college, at work, or in public spaces, can be overwhelming and very difficult to cope with.
Common sensitivity triggers can include unpredictable noise, unfamiliar locations, unwanted touch, and different forms of lighting, like fluorescent strip lights, which can lead to what is described as a form of tunnel vision, where the visual sense decreases significantly due to stress.
From an audio perspective, decreased sound tolerance is the most common sensory difficulty experienced by autistic people. Loud, sudden, and high-pitched sounds are commonly cited as causing stress and anxiety, leading to reduced social abilities, challenging behaviors, and difficulties throughout their lives.
Autistic, or neurodiverse people, can have problems with communication and social interaction, for example, recognizing facial expressions or body language, as well as issues with cognitive perception, like understanding the use of metaphors in language.
This can lead to people using masking techniques, in order to try and fit in with neurotypical behaviors, which itself can cause physical health problems over time through stress, and mental health problems, like depression.
The consequence of stress needs to be addressed to deal with the immediate and long-term effects on the autistic population through a better understanding of neurodiversity, and development of appropriate interventions.
So, what can we do?
The first thing we need to do is to increase our level of understanding of neurodiverse and neurotypical people, and where their differences lie. This can be done through education. However, this will take time to do.
In the meantime, we can communicate with each other, and share different ways to cope, through technological, and non-technological ways.
*Music starts playing, to represent musical therapy*
A research project looking at how technological self-interventions might help autistic people manage stress, is being undertaken by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University? Want to get involved?
