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The Unexpected Autistic Life

When you find out you are autistic…

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5 Clues That You May Have Sensory Sensitivities Without Knowing It

Andrea
6 min readMar 17, 2025

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Having sensory sensitivities is not always as straightforward as “hearing everything too loud”. Here are 5 hidden signs that you might have sensory sensitivities.

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Sensory sensitivities are one of those things that no one ever tells you about. You don’t learn about it in mainstream school, you are usually not taught that it’s even a possibility to have them. In fact, it is assumed that you don’t have them. More often than not, children with sensory sensitivities are taught to repress or ignore their feelings, until they forget they had them in the first place. This makes identifying sensory sensitivities (especially later, as an adult), a tricky issue. Even more so, when how they manifest is not always as straightforward as one would think.

Movies that display sensory sensitivities usually show a character that is very obviously getting overloaded, sounds getting louder, lights getting brighter, the character noticing everything at the same time, and then having a public meltdown. This was the image that led me to deny I had sensory sensitivities for a good while, even after I knew I was autistic. While this is a true manifestation for many people, that obvious awareness of sensory overload didn’t happen to me. Clothes tags didn’t…

Andrea
Andrea

Written by Andrea

Reflections on the neurodivergent experience and social justice. May contain occasional madness and astral metaphors.

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