Sensory Issues Reviews

Few cities have as strong an identity as Oxford—or at least in one’s imagination. After many years of travel, I finally visited the city of dreaming spires this fall. As an academic, lover of Oxford mysteries, and an autistic traveler, I was simply overwhelmed by the architectural beauty and density of sights. On my sensometer…

Dealing with sensory overload as an autistic shopper. Sensory-friendly grocery shopping for autistic people is on the rise, thank goodness. As a full-time autistic traveler, I’ve been eager to try out the so-called autism hour in supermarkets wherever I might be. A few weeks ago, I tried sensory-friendly hours at Aldi and Lidl (only two blocks…

When I first discovered there were ferries to Iceland from Denmark, I thought it couldn’t be true. My second thought: will I get seasick? Despite growing up in an Alaskan fishing town, I’ve never found my sealegs. So taking a North Atlantic Ocean multi-day ferry to Iceland from Denmark seemed foolhardy.  But it was the…

Auditory sensitivity is sublime and also unbearable. I’ve tried every strategy at home and on the road, from white noise generators to gel earplugs. Pillows over your head (they don’t work). You may be noise-seeking, noise-avoidant, or both. I’m both. I love to crank up the music on my headphones past any officially sanctioned decibel…

A rough guide for Americans in the UK this winter. Do you think it’s Covid?” I asked. “How could it be? Is that a symptom of it?” my partner asked. I flashed a graphic image at him from my phone. “It’s called Covid toes.” We stared at his swollen, shiny, pink-purple toes. “It must be something…