First-hand accounts of sensory perceptual experiences in autism: a qualitative analysis

TLDR

The study qualitatively analyzed five first‑hand web page accounts from high‑functioning autistic individuals describing unusual sensory perceptual experiences. The analysis revealed four core themes—turbulent sensory experiences, coping strategies, enjoyable sensory experiences, and awareness of difference—showing that autistic individuals experience both distress and enjoyment, with coping mechanisms enabling them to manage distress and derive pleasure, and that these experiences are integral to their sense of self.

Abstract

Five first-hand web page accounts of unusual sensory perceptual experiences written by persons who claimed to have high-functioning autism were selected for qualitative analysis. Four core categories emerged: turbulent sensory perceptual experiences, coping mechanisms, enjoyable sensory perceptual experiences, and awareness of being different, suggesting that people with autism experience both distress and enjoyment from their sensory perceptual experiences. The use of specific coping mechanisms enabled the person to deal with the distress or difficulties experienced and helped the person derive some enjoyment from the experience. Some of these people were aware that their sensory perceptual experiences were different from non-autistic individuals, but this did not decrease the enjoyment derived from some of their sensory perceptual experiences. These sensory perceptual experiences form an integral part of the individual's biographical embodied sense of self, and probably of autism.