A Highly Sensitive Person

A Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) 

"Sensitivity is a heightened 'ability to .... to one’s environment'"
"I often complain about sounds, smells, or tastes that don’t seem to bother those around me..

Does that sound like Deja vu for the sensory overstimulated autistic?  
Read more in this Greater Good Science Center article.

The upsides of HSP: "Empathy... Creativity...Sensory Intelligence... Depth of Processing... Depth of Emotion."

" kind of person who absorbs the emotions of other people. If someone I know is stressed out or depressed, I feel it, too, resonating with their pain."  

  "absorb more sensory information (often unconsciously), think more deeply, and find more interconnections among disparate things than less sensitive people typically do."


Downsides of HSP & Autism Deja Vu: Feeling Overwhelmed

"biggest challenges is overwhelm... uncomfortable in chaotic environments with lots of sensory stimulation—like loud parties or busy city streets.... overwhelmed by their emotions or the emotions of others, which they tend to absorb." 

Needed Support: “Sensitive people get a BIGGER BOOST from the same things that help anyone: a mentor, a healthy home, a positive group of friends....This boost allows them to do more and go further if they are given a nudge in the right direction.”

The point being that Autistics not just "could use" but that NEED this BIGGER BOOST as a first step in supporting sensory needs on a social level, while remembering that we also need to look for solutions to our sensory processing issues at a physiological level.  



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