i only learned this year that loud noises arenβt physically painful for other people. i have lived 34 years in a world in which my friends and family regularly physically hurt me at random just by shouting, and i thought everyone else just thought i was kind of a wimp for not dealing with the pain as well as they did.
like. loud noises physically hurt. itβs like a static shock from my ears to my spine that doesnβt stop until the volume goes back down. i thought we all agreed that βthatβs too loud!β and covering our ears meant βouch!β. turns out iβve been dealing with a stressor almost no one else has, my whole life, alone.
autistic people have to keep functioning through debilitating levels of stress that no one else in their life acknowledges or helps them with. itβs no wonder that their most visibleΒ βtellsβ are breakdowns.Β