Understanding your sensory preferences
Some low-effort tips for getting started.
The gist of this post is:
A lot of workplace accommodations for neurodivergent people focus on managing sensory inputs (for some examples, see the post below)
But, there's a lot of variation in how people experience sensory input, so we need to dig a little deeper to understand what will be helpful.
A good first step is to get curious about how you experience your own senses.
What is sensory processing?
Autistic people and people with ADHD process sensory information in ways that are different to the general population. It can seem that the volume dials on some senses are higher than others. This can show up as sensory sensitivities (experiencing overwhelm, stress or exhaustion from sensory inputs), or as sensory-seeking behaviour.
If you'll allow me a slight diversion here - research suggests autistic people and people with ADHD experience similar sensory processing differences (Scheerer et al., 2024). This adds to a growing body of evidence showing that autism and ADHD can show up in similar ways (e.g. Kushki et al., 2019).
What this research is telling us is that managing your sensory processing challenges is not necessarily going to be guided by your diagnosis. Because there's so much variation from person to person, it's more useful to consider your own challenges, and go from there.
What can I do about it?
If you're interested in understanding your sensory sensitivities a bit better, a good first step is to start paying them some deliberate attention. This may not be as easy as it sounds for those of us who have spent a long time putting up with sensory overload, and have become quite disconnected from our bodies as a result.
A simple way to get started is to start noticing the kinds of situations that make you feel drained, anxious or generally a bit rubbish. If that all feels like more admin, or if you're finding it difficult to disentangle what is going on for you, you can also just start experimenting with different accommodations or approaches. You don't need a diagnosis to get started on this!
A detailed practical guide is provided in the article: Navigating Sensory Issues in Adults: A Guide, which unpacks what it's like to discover sensory issues as an adult, and steps through a process to help you figure out sensory preferences, triggers and soothers. If you'd like some ideas to get you started, you could also try the Sensory Triggers Checklist (linked in this article).
Some relatively simple shifts could look like:
Wearing noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs in noisy environments. I felt a bit self-conscious when I first started wearing noise cancelling headphones or earplugs to places like my kids' indoor sporting activities - but to be honest, very few people seem to notice (or care!).
Dark glasses and a wide-brimmed hat in bright sunshine (which has the added bonus of also being very sun-smart).
The next time you're buying clothes, try a looser or softer option (e.g. styles that don't dig in at the waist, or wire-free bras if that's an option for you).
Trying to avoid motion sickness by not reading on public transport.
If you've got to be somewhere crowded, allow yourself some extra time to get there so you're not rushed, and schedule in some recovery time afterwards.
What could you experiment with to dial down your sensory input, or rest and recover?
Sources and further reading
Academic articles
Kushki, A., Anagnostou, E., Hammill, C., Duez, P., Brian, J., Iaboni, A., ... & Lerch, J. P. (2019). Examining overlap and homogeneity in ASD, ADHD, and OCD: a data-driven, diagnosis-agnostic approach. Translational psychiatry, 9(1), 318.
Scheerer, N.E., Pourtousi, A., Yang, C. et al. (2024). Transdiagnostic Patterns of Sensory Processing in Autism and ADHD. J Autism Dev Disord 54, 280–292.
Short articles
Matlen, T. “I’m a Sensitive Woman:” ADHD Sensory Overload in Adults.
Neff, M. A. Navigating Sensory Issues in Adults: A Guide.
Neff, M. A. The Unexpected Consequences of Sensory Overload in ADHD: 10 Hidden Impacts (also contains a link to the sensory trigger checklist)