Academic Journal Article (Autism and Sensory Experience).
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-021-05186-3/figures/3
After exploring sensory accessibility in public spaces and travel environments, I wanted to understand autistic sensory experiences in greater depth.
I chose this paper because it centres the experiences of autistic adults and allows participants to describe sensory differences in their own words. The study involved 49 autistic adults and explored hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity and sensory-seeking behaviour.
Although this paper is not specifically about tourism, it helps explain some of the experiences that may lie behind travel barriers, such as overwhelm, uncertainty, and difficulty communicating support needs.
One of the first things that stood out was that autistic sensory experience is much broader than simply being sensitive to loud noises or bright lights.
The paper identifies three forms of sensory experience:
This made me realise that sensory accessibility should not only focus on reducing stimulation. Autistic people may also rely on particular sounds, textures, movement or pressure to feel calm and regulated.
Sensory experience is highly individual. The same sensory input could be enjoyable for one participant and distressing for another. This means that a universal guide to autistic sensory needs would be difficult to create. A more useful approach may involve allowing autistic travellers to communicate their own preferences, triggers and coping strategies.
Control and predictability affect sensory experience. Participants found sensory experiences more manageable when they could control: