For #AutismAcceptanceMonth I want to tell you about the #ActuallyAutistic sensory world. We each react different, some maybe not at all. But for me, while smell and light impact me, sound is by far the biggest issue for me. I'll tell you why.

Before I was diagnosed, I honestly thought I had hearing problems because I when I sat across the table from someone in a pub, restaurant, stadium or other noisy place, I couldn't hear anything that person was saying.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth

But what was actually happening was that I HEARD EVERYTHING. I don't have the ability to tune out noise so my poor brain is always trying to process everything. 24/7. And in this human world there is a never-ending bombardment of noise.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth
#AutismAcceptance

My hearing is really, really acute. I hear things nobody else does. And that's quite an amazing trait to have in nature! I hear all the birds, the rustle that tells me an animal is near, the splash of a beaver tail. But in the city...

#AutismAcceptanceMonth
#AutismAcceptance

All the city noise, the airplanes, the traffic, lawnmowers, music, sirens, gunshot noise from the police shooting range that infiltrate my house on a cloudy day....I don't get used to them. Not ever. I always, always hear them.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth
#AutismAcceptance

Living in the city is challenging, to say the least. I have a large collection of headphones. Noise cancelling headphones, noise cancelling earbuds, noise cancelling sleep buds, noise masking sleep buds, speakers playing nature sounds, etc.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth

But the only time I truly feel peace, is far away from the human world. Something I've not experienced once since the pandemic began. The last time I felt at peace was in Finland 2019 when I spent a few days wandering in forests without anyone around.

#AutismAcceptanceMonth