A question liked to sensory challenges

If an autistic individual struggles with one of their senses being ‘overly’ sensitive, is it reasonable/common to have another sense be ‘under’ sensitive?

For example, I am very sensitive to noise- to a painful level. This is something, by reading on here, that I know a lot of us struggle with. I also know that others recognise sensitivities in their other senses. I would argue that my sense of smell is pretty sensitive, as is my sense of taste. My vision not so much. I can spot tiny details, but often miss larger things right in front of me. But the sense I really find lacking is that of my ability to detect when I’m cold or have hurt myself. My pain threshold is pretty high as a result. I detest being hot and I also don’t like being touched, except with warning from a select few people, but I really struggle to pick up on when I’ve hurt myself. A few months ago I walked in from a satisfying time in the garage of cleaning, organising and finishing a project, went to talk to my wife who immediately asked what I’d done. She looked a bit concerned, but I didn’t really know what she was worried about until she’d told me. I had a really deep cut on my leg and was bleeding to a reasonable level. I just didn’t feel it or recognise that I’d done it. It wasn’t anything bad, just required a bit of looking after it and now have an oddly shaped scar. But this sort of thing happens quite a lot to me. 

It might not be a thing, but it was a question I’ve been wondering about. It would be great to hear your thoughts/ experiences. Perhaps it’s just something linked to me, but equally, I’d be interested to see if other people have comparable instances or to see if it is something linked to autism or not.

Parents
  • For me interoception, fine motor skils, and spacial self-awareness sucks big time

    but gross motor skills and spatial perception is great

    I've got better than average smelling and tasting, normal sight, sensitive skin, and lacking hearing (when there is to much noise I can't tell anything)

Reply
  • For me interoception, fine motor skils, and spacial self-awareness sucks big time

    but gross motor skills and spatial perception is great

    I've got better than average smelling and tasting, normal sight, sensitive skin, and lacking hearing (when there is to much noise I can't tell anything)

Children
  • Thanks for your reply. I didn’t have much awareness about interoception before this post, at least it was a term I had not heard of, so that is another reason I am pleased for asking.

    Noise is a real difficulty of mine, for someone so noise sensitive, I can’t seem to focus on a particular noice, such as a conversation I’m in, if there is more noise going on- such as a room full of people talking.

  • I get that with noise as well. When there's too much it gets overwhelming.