Can I talk about auditory stuff for moment? This post has a lot of my own experiences reflected. I rarely ever use technical terms for things I experience because they're just... There. I also rarely talk about them or point them out bc I don't want to seem weird. https://twitter.com/AutSciPerson/status/1350264079793999881

I hear basically everything. It all comes at me and it's hard to filter background noises out. I often don't respond when someone is talking to me because I'm so used to ignoring sounds it takes me a moment to realize a response is warranted. So it seems like I'm not listening.

The truth is I definitely heard you. But I work so hard tuning EVERYTHING out that unless I know we're already in the middle of a conversation, I just assume you're not talking to me. And because of that I'd often hear stuff people didn't want me to hear, which was fun.

My niece (who is a cousin actually but whatever) is autistic. She has more difficulty communicating "normally" than I do. So instead of headphones or zoning out, she simply covers her ears with her hands. Because everything is so much.

And like... It's very difficult to really articulate how hard it is to exist in the world when everything is so much. I don't want to wear headphones constantly, so I just opt to seem like I can't hear too well when actually I'm actively trying to block out too many sounds.

It sucks a lot bc I don't want to be inconvenient about noises that bug me. It's not plausible to expect silence or near silence all the time. I just have to kinda...suck it up.