I have talked about autism and noise or auditory sensory challenges and have talked about textile sensory challenges as well. Today I am going to talk about other autism sensory challenges such as:

· Visual sensory challenges
· Olfactory sensory challenges
· Tactile sensory challenges

One might wonder why we talk so much about sensory where Autism Spectrum Disorder is concerned. Well, that is because sensory has proven to be one of the biggest challenges people on the spectrum experience, and our lack of knowledge of them makes the lives of our autistic loved ones difficult. Trust me I know.

To an extent, we all suffer from one of these sensories and that is not because we are autistic but because we are simply humans. There are naturally noise-sensitive, strong smell-sensitive, and bright light-sensitive people. Does this mean that they are on the spectrum? No, so then, what’s the difference between autistics and neurotypicals or neurodivergent?

The difference is that sensories are part of an integration process, they’re also a part of communication and interaction. Therefore, integration becomes difficult for people with autism as they are the ones who suffer most from these sensories. Hence autism is defined as a neurological condition that impairs a person’s ability to interact, communicate, and socialize.

These senses help provide all of us with unique experiences and allow us to interact and be involved with the rest of our society. They help us understand what is happening around us, how to respond or react, and determine and or predict. Ever wonder why children or adults on the spectrum are withdrawn or aloof?

This is because of sensory processing challenges. One may be withdrawn because those who are around them are either too loud by nature or by choice, have strong body odors, and or use strong perfumes, lotions soaps, aftershaves, etc.

Others are withdrawn because their loved ones are all huggy-huggy and autistic individuals don't want that because of the discomfort they get when their skin touches others. The term or word AUTISM means withdrawn or withdrawn and these withdrawal behaviors stem from sensory processing challenges.

Let us deep-dive into the above-mentioned sensory challenges and see how they affect individuals on the spectrum.

Visual sensory challenges

Ever wondered if your child saw clearly or not? Have you ever at some stage found yourself worried about their vision, or how they sometimes miss things that are right in front of them, and you can see that the thing is big enough to not be seen, yet for some reason they don’t see it?

Or have you ever seen your autistic loved one always seeing tiny objects that would normally need a microscope because your naked eye alone can’t see them, and they are so interested in those but fail to see big ones?

If you answer yes to any or all these questions then now you know that your autistic loved one is having visual sensory challenges.
How does this visual sensory impair an autistic individual?

Firstly, visual sensory is in the eye and is activated by light which means no light not visual. After the light comes the process of identifying objects, people, colors, etc.

For example: if you were to see a person, you’d be able to know their gender, race, height, weight, features, what they are wearing, and the colors.
BUT an autistic person may fail to see all these details because: they see peripherally.

Okay, but what the heck is a peripheral vision?

The word peripheral means unimportant or beside the point. Now, what does this mean? It means an autistic individual with this type of visual sensory challenge only sees half or less important features instead of the whole picture.

There are two reasons why an individual would see like that. No, I take that back, there are three reasons and the first one is that their central vision sees blurry causing them to only concentrate on the peripheral view.

The second reason is that sometimes the main object (the person) is magnified, meaning the person suddenly got so gigantic that they can only see that and nothing else. This makes the beside-the-point things such as their clothes, accessories, and everything else to be “blurry”.

So, as you can see, this visual sensory challenge works both ways. Sometimes it’s the main picture that is blurry and sometimes it’s the “unimportant” or peripheral things that look blurry.

BOTH the hyper and hypo individuals on the spectrum suffer from this visual sensory. The HYPER are the ones who see small objects more than big ones and the HYPO see the opposite of their former counterparts

Example of peripheral view or vision

Let's say our person is a female wearing a red wig, and some shiny chandelier-like earrings amongst other things. The autistic child or adult will only see the earrings and nothing else (including not seeing the actual person wearing those earrings). This is what peripheral vision looks like.

The third reason is that autistic individuals see at eye level or with a neutral eye. Now, according to a Cambridge dictionary, an eye-level position or perspective is something that is positioned at approximately the same height as your eyes.

The image below is an example of how my autistic son sees things at eye level. As you can see in the image, there is space where he could have placed the mug, but he chose to place it on top of another one because that was all the space he saw out of the whole picture. You and I can see that there’s plenty of space for the mug, but he didn’t see it or rather can’t see it for some autism reason.

The olfactory sensory challenges

Olfactory or smell sensory is another major challenge that people with autism struggle with. This is because the smell is everywhere, natural or not.

Let’s take the mall or shopping complex for instance. For starters, there are different kinds of stores selling everything imaginable. From the butcheries, cafes, or restaurants, you get different kinds of foods, and each has its unique smell; good, bad, and nasty. Then we have cosmetics stores that sell most if not all things perfume and fragrance.

You and I can probably stomach all this, but an autistic person cannot because in real honesty, it is too much to handle but our senses of smell can survive.
Autistic people on the other hand would go ballistic if they were to be in such a place for too long, which is why it is difficult for them to go to such places in the first place. And that by itself is being “withdrawn”.

The tactile sensory challenge

Unlike textile sensory processing challenges, which is a sensory issue with clothes and fabrics, tactile sensory processing challenges originate from the skin, the body’s largest organ.

This sensory process includes touching, feeling different types of pressures, feeling all levels of pain, and of course helping us differentiate temperatures such as hot and cold.

Now, to an autistic individual, the temperature can be both cold and hot at the same time. Pain can be mild, moderate, and severe at the same time. And because they can’t separate one from the other, they (especially those who are hyper) end up feeling too sensitive to touches. Touches including hugs become painful for them to endure.

This is why when you try to hug an autistic person with this sensory challenge, they push you away like you have some deadly-contagious disease they don’t want to contract.

This causes them to be withdrawn and as a result, affects their interactive and social skills. As I said, it is these sensory challenges that cause autistic individuals to be withdrawn and aloof.