There are a lot of commonly known Autistic experiences including special interests, social anxiety, meltdowns, Autistic burn out and sensory sensitivity.
However, there is a lot more to know about Autism including these 7 not so well-known Autistic experiences.
Hypersensitive of Existence in Social Situations
In social situations, many Autistics like us are aware of what we are doing and what we are not doing. This can be attributed to masking. Along with the awareness many of us experience in social situations, we feel pressured by what we feel we are expected to say and do. This includes knowing to quickly look in between someone’s eyes to appear that we are engaged with others. Also, at social events, many of us on the spectrum are careful to ensure that we ask the other person enough questions while making sure that we limit our monologues to appear to have NORMAL conversations – like our Allistic peers.
Having Safe Foods
It is not uncommon for Autistics to have a safe food. Safe food is something we feel comfortable eating. Safe foods are foods that we gravitate towards and provide us with many benefits including emotional regulation.
Many Autistics describe safe food as having the same look, same smell, and same taste each time.
Safe foods help us reduce the unexpected elements of eating.
Interoception Difficulties
Interoception describes the body’s sensitivity to internal sensations. Our interoception system works through receptors located inside our bodies. When we experience interoception difficulties, we may be unable to feel hunger, pain, thirst, temperature and the need to relieve ourselves because we do not feel the proper body sensations associated with each activity.
Struggle to Regulate Emotions
There are some, if not many, Autistics who feel their emotions more intensely yet sometimes they are not even able to identify what the emotions are.
This has been described as feeling like one giant ball of intense emotion.
Some Autistics report that when they were a child, they can remember feeling, either really upset or really happy when others didn’t seem to feel these emotions as strongly as they were.
Gastro-Intestinal difficulties
Autistic adults frequently experience gastrointestinal (GI) difficulties, including constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and bloating.
Crashing Out
Many Autistics feel really exhausted after a social interaction. After a social interaction we often feel there is no energy left. For many of us we feel we must crash out by taking a break and engaging in some self-care in a quiet and/or dark space where we can decompress or possibly even take a nap.
Many of us cannot understand how Allistics could just seem to carry on without hitting a brick wall after a social interaction.
For some of us on the spectrum, if we do not crash out when we feel exhausted after a social interaction, we risk experiencing a big meltdown or risk going into burnout.
Having a slightly different voice.
Autistics people sometimes have a noticeably different voice. For those of us who possess a noticeably different voice, our voices may be different in rhythm, speed, tone and volume. Many Autistics with a noticeably different voice may stress different syllables in a word or different words in a sentence. Some who have a noticeably different voice have been told that their voice is flat and monotone in sound.
