• Sensory challenges (also known as sensory barriers or sensory issues) are difficulties in coping with sensory experiences.
• Affected Senses: People can experience challenges with any sense–seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling.  In addition, people can experience challenges with their vestibular system(balance) or proprioception (awareness of body’s position in space).
• Type of Sensory Challenges: Some challenges can be categorized as hyper-sensitivity (over-responsivity).  People with hyper-sensitivity find certain sensory stimuli to be painful or overwhelming while most other people are not as affected. Other challenges can be categorized as hypo-sensitivity (under-responsivity).  People with hypo-sensitivity often crave more sensory input than the general population or seek out specific stimuli.
• Associated Conditions: Sensory issues are often associated with autism, but they are also closely linked to ADHD, PTSD, OCD, depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury, various medical conditions, and other situations.

What It’s Like to Have Sensory Challenges

This video from SAYS simulates life with sensory problems:

The Basics of  Sensory Challenges

Learn more about sensory challenges in these sources:

• Sensory Overload in Adults: Problems and Solutions from Sensory Friendly Solutions lists signs of sensory overload.
• This video from Transition Abilities is a great quick introduction to sensory issues and neurodiversity.
• Patrick Dwyer explains how sensory issues express themselves in a college environment in this series from Stairway to Stem.
• Psychology Today discusses sensory processing disorder with a focus on autism.
• The Attention Deficit Disorder Association explains through this helpful page the links between ADHD and sensory challenges, symptoms of sensory sensitivity, and examples of triggers.
• Don’t Touch Me, by Stacy Notaras Murphy in Counseling Today, is an excellent essay on the sensory issues through the stages of human development and how it can lead to severe depression and anxiety in adulthood.
• Sensory Seeking (hyposensitive) vs. Sensory Sensitive (hypersensitive)–The Sensory Store offers a great infographic explaining the differences.

Video Gallery

The videos below explain sensory challenges and how they impact our health, relationships, and cognitive functioning.