Accommodations, Work Arounds and Life Paths for Differences in Sensory Processing

Conjecture

"Impairments in early sensory information processing have been consistently identified in patients with schizophrenia as well as in individuals at high clinical risk for developing psychosis.

"There is increasing evidence that the deficits at these early levels of information processing significantly ..."

Sensory Information Processing Abnormalities in ... - Frontiers

[Question:  Is it a DEFICIT or is it an EXCESS, BOTH -- INDIVIDUAL?]


"Social and emotional responses rely heavily on the brain's ability to make sense of sensory information.

"Inaccurate information from processing deficits results in aversive emotional reactions from which maladaptive behaviors grow."

Sensory Processing Disorder:  It's Not… Something You Outgrow

[Question Again:  Is this just DEFICITS, is it also EXCESSES --- does it depend on how we look at it?]


So what does this have to do with ACCOMMODATIONS. WORK-AROUNDS and LIFE PATHS?

• Differences in Sensory Processing are often something you are BORN with:
  • By and large, the PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE is just to try to fit in as best you can --- on some level MOST EVERYONE is doing that.
  • The PROBLEM comes when YOUR NEEDS and the SOCIETY'S NEEDS or other PEOPLE'S NEEDS are coming into CONFLICT.

 

• Further, HOW MUCH AWARENESS do YOU, EXPERTS or the SOCIETY really have with regard to MORE FUNDAMENTAL "ROOT CAUSES" of these CONFLICTS?

 

• Because this is COMPLICATED --- one of the ways we have "RESOLVED" these CONFLICTS is with SYSTEMS of HIERARCHY.

 

• Those "SYSTEMS of HIERARCHY" are under SCRUTINY by many people and groups of people, including many NEURO-DIVERSE people.

Many psychiatrists now would say ADHD is not an ATTENTION DEFICIT --- it's an ATTENTION EXCESS.

I would say that ATTENTION EXCESS is the RESULT of a SENSORY EXCESS.

Further, we process information through our senses in part by using our EMOTIONS.

On the one hand, we don't REASON without EMOTION --- EMOTION is A PART of the REASONING PROCESS.

On the other hand --- EMOTION is NOT NECESSARILY the END PRODUCT --

• UNDERSTANDING and AWARENESS can bring CALM
• A FACADE of Understanding and Awareness --- has its limits
• And that I think is what PUSHES Human Understanding and Awareness.

• I don't think 40 years ago the DSM was a FACADE -- it was imperfect BUT it was the best we could do.
• Today in 2022 the DSM is a FACADE for a profession that is not getting SUFFICIENT TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH SUPPORT.
• I think if we're not considering the role of DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES/DISORDERS involving SENSORY PROCESSING as they relate to PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS and SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS,
  • We're not likely to be EFFECTIVE, and
  • It won't be COST EFFECTIVE

Florence  + The Machine
Free

Florence Welch is Neuro-Diverse --- she has Dyslexia.

I think a lot of people who are Neuro-Diverse with HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS but not necessarily DYSLEXIC --- can RELATE to this idea of FEELINGS and EMOTIONS HITTING ALL AT ONCE.

GO WITH THE FLOW

• Neuro-Diverse people are processing often MORE SENSORY INFORMATION
• I think that is what makes it EASIER for NEURO-DIVERSE people to PICK UP PATTERNS in DIVERSE DISCIPLINES
  • they have MORE EXAMPLES
• BUT it takes them LONGER to PROCESS MORE INFORMATION ---
  • Einstein didn't talk until he was 3 --- and most of us aren't Einstein
  • BUT we are bringing our UNIQUENESS to the TABLE
  • Further --- all that INFORMATION in the UNIVERSE is NOT SOMEHOW IRRELEVANT ---
    • • Saying you don't have the BANDWIDTH to CONSIDER something
        
      • Is SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT than saying it is IRRELEVANT.   Leonardo da Vinci was right --- IT IS ALL CONNECTED
        

• For many people, processing ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of Information:
  • The Arts
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Various Forms of Teaching

Can Work.

Neuro-Diverse people can seem CONTROLLING but they are trying to maintain a pretty elusive HOMEOSTASIS.

• If you are at the TOP of some PYRAMID (PYRAMID SCHEME) -- then maybe you're able to keep it together (sort of)
• If you are at the BOTTOM of some PYRAMID (PYRAMID SCHEME) -- it is going to be NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE.
  • Neuro-Diverse people need a lot of CONTROL over their ENVIRONMENTS because they are SO SENSITIVE to those ENVIRONMENTS.

Further, the important thing about NEURO-DIVERSITY is the DIVERSITY.  

It's often Neuro-Diverse people who are in CONFLICT while those NEURO-TYPICALS are trying to figure out what all the FUSS is about.

This is about "Equality" and "Fairness" ---

• But it is not EQUALITY in the sense of we're CLONES -- it's EQUALITY in the sense that we're all living beings and we need ENVIRONMENTS that work for us and there are DIFFERENCES.
• We have to NEGOTIATE those DIFFERENCES on  an EQUAL FOOTING.