Published on 12, July, 2020
This might be one for the Moderators to look into, but I wonder if others have insight on this.
I've had several conversations recently with professionals dealing with adults on the spectrum who've just spouted the triad of impairments, or who've said its all in the triad of impairments.
With all the literature on theories about autism and various interpretations, and approaches to treatment, I could quite understand professionals looking for the easiest synthesis to hand. But what is to hand? Is it just too easy to read up on the triad and related summaries? Or is there nothing else to hand for professionals to use.
The Triad of Impairments, as far as I can see, is of no more value than for diagnosing children. It has little relevance to the everyday lives and experiences of adults, and is hardly appropriate to helping professionals understand adult needs.
It doesn't explain a lot of issues facing adults.
But just what are the main texts used by professionals? And how useful are these texts for supporting adults?
OK, in the vain hope that some professional somewhere might read this.
How My Sensory Issues affect me as an adult with Asperger's - by IntenseWorld
Equilibrioception (vestibular/balance): I am very clumsy and regularly bump and bang myself, and have really bad vertigo with heights and being close to edges of things. Anything moving too much makes me feel sick, that could be in any form of transport. I walk into things a lot. I never could learn how to ride a bike.
Proprioception (awareness of body in space): This overlaps with the vestibular issues, as I cannot judge well the distance I am from things and it combines to make me really clumsy. It makes me constantly burn myself on ovens and irons and walk into door frames etc.
Auditory: hypersensitivity to sounds. I can hear our sonic insect repellants, I hear things no-one else seems to hear. I am stressed by the sounds of our neighbours talking, coughing, sneezing and general movements through the walls. If they are in their gardens it's so stressful for me I have to stay on the other side of the house. Certain pitches of noise are worse than others, squeals of children are very difficult for me (and having two of them you can imagine how that is) and I usually wear earplugs even in the house. Small noises make me jump or flinch and wake me up very easily and I can't get to sleep if there are small noises at the time. Hearing my husband (or anyone) crunching food sends me insane, I get angry and send him out of the room.
Visual hypersensitivity: Bright colours, especially neons/fluorescents literally make my eyeballs hurt and if they are bright enough I cannot look at them. I wear sunglasses even on overcast days and drive with the sunvisor down as the sky is too bright, even when it's cloudy or not sunny. I have scotopic sensitivity and avoid driving in the dark as the glare from streetlamps gives me night-blindness and driving like that is scary. Reading text on white is uncomfortable and my eyes literally feel soothed with a coloured background. I also get eye migraines, I don't know if this is related to visual stress.
Exteroception (tactile sensitivity): I feel every tiny little thing on my skin. I will feel the tiniest fly land on me or a dropped single hair on my arm and it makes clothing feel itchy, scratchy or as if it presses. I can't bear even one tendril of hair brushing against my face. I therefore probably have a lower pain threshold than normal.
Interoception (awareness of internal organs): I feel internal bodily sensations extremely. When I was carrying my children I felt them moving in the womb much earlier than normal and the radiographer doing my scans didn't believe me. I have felt things "go wrong" inside that when I went for medical investigation things were found.
Olfactory: I dry heave violently at unpleasant smells and can smell things long before others can and when others can't at all.
Food textures: I can't bear stringy food, slimy food, gloopy food, food with little bits in (I can gag extremely easily over textures) and am frequently seen pulling bits and pieces out of my mouth when eating. If I see a tubey vein in a piece of meat, well that's it for me.
As you can imagine, all this combines to make just being in the world (as a modern society, with colours and busyness all around very stressful. It's an existential stress that is added to by anxiety, information processing issues (I need to see things visually and verbal information is problematic) and executive dysfunction.
I didn't know prosopagnosia was classed as a sensory issue, but I have a bit of that too. If I see someone out of context I can struggle to know who they are. I have had people say "Oh hello" to me in the street before as if they know me quite well and I have not had a clue who they are. So I have bumbled along saying "how are you" hoping they don't notice. I have terrible trouble with peoples' names, even a few minutes after being told them if there are more than 2-3 people at once.
Ask me any question you would like, about either my sensory problems or any other aspect of my Asperger's.