Oh, hey, I'm back! Sorry about that, folks. Power outages and doctor's appointments kept me offline the last few days. Anyway, since it is the Fourth of July, I figured it was seasonal, so let's talk about fireworks. Specifically, how autistic folks might react to them.
The thing is, sensory processing difficulties can go either way, hyper or hyposensitivity. A hypersensitive person, for instance, might hate loud noises, and could even define loud as "three people, speaking at standard volume, at the same time". I know that from experience. Or they could have trouble if the lighting in a room's too bright, or find clothes incredibly uncomfortable. A hyposensitive one might be really restless and unable to stay still because they need more sensory input. It depends. But as someone who's as a whole pretty hypersensitive, especially to sound, let me tell you something: I don't get fireworks. I mean, yeah, they're pretty lights, but I just heard a great big boom outside and I'm currently on the second floor of my house with the windows closed. They don't last long, they're noisy, and most fireworks-launchings aren't a full-blown Disney spectacle with the explosions synchronized to gorgeous music or anything, making the sound easier to ignore. They're just... kinda pretty. Which is balanced by the fact that they're explosions, one of the most inherently annoying sounds out there (the others include phones ringing and air horns, among others). Not good enough to be worth driving half an hour to see.
My parents learned this and eventually, we stopped going to see fireworks shows, or at least stopped taking me to them. Instead, we just set off some of the smaller ones at home, and I stay inside most July Fourths. If I want to see the colors or anything, then I can watch from the windows and the screen door. It's cooler there, and there are less mosquitoes. It's not that they don't like them, and if I can see them without the sound or with music to balance it, it's fine. But some things just aren't worth putting someone through. Things like the sound of fireworks or a particularly prominent bass beat in a song can be incredibly annoying to me, or even kind of painful. It's not a matter of taste, it's a matter of "this is causing physical discomfort".
Sorry for the negativity there. I think one of the things people don't always get about it is that it is a matter of physical discomfort. You're not behaving this way by choice, it's just that you have to express how uncomfortable you are or vent it somehow. Acting out in such socially unacceptable manners is the best way to describe the sensation that someone's jamming needles in your ears every time the phone rings.
On that cheery note, have a nice evening!
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