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Sensory Needs Are Real: How to Recognise and Support Your Neurodivergent Nervous System: A sensory processing Guide for adults

Close-up image of a camera screen with a blurred background. The screen shows a focused image of nature, symbolising how sensory processing helps us focus, interpret, and respond to the world around us.

Today I am speaking on the "this is autism" podcast. There were too many resources and ideas I wanted to share verbally, so I decided to create this blog to compliment the podcast.


During the podcast, we explored sensory processing, stimming, and ways to better support neurodivergent people's sensory needs. If you're a neurodivergent adult looking for support, language, and sensory strategies that make sense for you, you're in the right place.


What is Sensory Processing?


Sensory processing is how our brain and body take in, sort, and respond to information — from the world around us and from inside ourselves.

It includes the senses most people know: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, as well as:

  • Proprioception (our sense of body position)

  • Vestibular (our sense of gravity — helps us understand balance and movement)

  • Interoception (our internal awareness — cues like hunger, thirst, or needing the toilet)


Sensory processing is also a prediction system.

Your brain is constantly asking:

🧠 “What is this?”

🧠 “What should I do about it?”


Although we might assume everyone experiences the world in a similar way, sensory perception varies widely. Being neurodivergent often means interpreting and responding to sensory information differently from the majority of people.


The world might feel too intense, too muted, or just unpredictable. This isn’t a flaw, it’s simply a different way of processing.


There are different parts of the sensory processing process:

  • Sensory registration: noticing that something is happening at all. You might be receiving a lot of sensory information, which can feel overwhelming or distracting. Or your brain might not register sensations until they’re intense (like not noticing hunger until you're shaky).

  • Modulation: like a volume dial. This is regulating the intensity of the sensation your brain notices or tunes into. Some input feels too loud, others are barely registered.

  • Discrimination: like the focus on a camera. It helps us recognise the differences in the sensations and work out what they mean.

    • For example, looking at food might not give you enough information about texture, so it’s hard to predict how it will feel in your mouth. To compensate for this you might prefer eating one food at a time, or having space between items on the plate.

    • Or visually recognising keys and knowing which one fits the door: without noticing the visual differences on the keys we are reliant on trial and error or putting a more obvious difference such as a coloured key fob on the right key.

    • Tuning into body signals like thirst, tiredness, or emotion might feel tricky or inconsistent


How we respond to our Sensory Differences as Neurodivergent Adults


  • Active strategies: We might intentionally seek out sensory input (like movement, staring at a screen, deep pressure, or vibration) because it helps us regulate. We might also actively avoid or reduce input to feel more settled: like leaving a noisy space or turning off bright lights.

  • Planning or responding takes energy: Even recognising the need and planning how to meet it requires resources, like energy, time, executive function, or a sense of control. This can take trial and error or practice.

  • Sometimes we can’t respond at all: If we’re overwhelmed or under-stimulated, we might feel stuck. For example, if our system is low-arousal, we might need sensory input before we can even plan how to move our arms or legs. That’s not laziness, it’s a neurological pause button.


If you're an autistic, dyspraxic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent adult wondering why everyday tasks feel overwhelming, sensory processing may be the missing link.


Why Understanding Your Sensory System Matters for Neurodivergent Adults

Getting to know your sensory system can be life-changing, especially for autistic adults, ADHD adults, and other neurodivergent people.


It can help explain:

  • Why you feel drained in certain spaces

  • Why you can use the strategies that will adjust your energry level

  • What triggers meltdowns, shutdowns, or sensory overload

  • What helps you feel calm and regulated


Most languages didn’t originally have a word for the colour blue — and people didn’t “see” blue until the word existed. If we don’t have language for our sensations, we can’t name or meet our needs.


Sensory experiences are often mislabelled as “just anxiety.” But there’s value in learning to describe them more clearly.

You can use the understanding of yourself to then create habits and activities that meet your needs or to self advocate for changing a task or a room.



Sensory Processing Resources for Neurodivergent Adults

Here are some helpful resources that I often recommend to autistic and ADHD adults:

Stimming – What It Is and Why It Matters

Stimming is short for self-stimulatory behaviour. It can include a repetativie movement, sound or thought

For many neurodivergent people, stimming is vital. It helps with:

  • Day to day sensory regulation

  • Regulation during stress or transitions

  • Processing emotion

  • Creating a sense of predictability and comfort

💬 Stimming is not a "bad habit"—it's communication, regulation, and often joy.



Final Thoughts

You might notice I haven’t used the word preference much in this blog. That’s intentional.

Often, what’s described as a “sensory preference” isn’t actually a preference at all, it’s just the way we’re wired.

Yes, we can have sensory preferences, things that feel more enjoyable, comfortable, or meaningful. But many of our responses aren’t about choice, they’re about need.

Think of it like food. I might prefer pizza, but I could still get the same nutritional content from a burger. That’s a preference but on some days, that nutrition won’t be enough to fuel me. I might need something rich in omega oils or slow-release energy. My body isn’t asking for a preference, it’s asking for what it needs to function.

The same is true for sensory processing. We may need certain types of input to feel regulated, grounded, or able to function, and not getting that input can lead to overwhelm, dysregulation, or shutdown.

  • Sensory needs aren’t quirks or habits, they are part of your nervous system.

  • Talking about sensory needs should be as normalised

  • Two people can experience the same moment differently, and both can be right. You’re not “too sensitive.” or "insensitive"

  • Your experience is real, valid, and worthy of support.



About the author:

Sarah is a neuroaffirming Occupational Therapist and personal trainer, passionate about helping people flourish in their everyday lives. She shares practical strategies, reflections, and resources at @MoodLifterPT and on www.moodlifter.co.uk.


Blogs:

This blog focused on how we interpret and respond to sensory information. We didn’t explore the movement and postural side of sensory processing: if that’s something that affects you, you might like this post: Dyspraxia in Adults: It’s More Than Just Clumsiness


 
 
 

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