Looking at myself, maybe I'm not as cool
as I think I am. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel, today
I'm going to be sharing with you some tips and tricks that I use to manage the sensory
aspects of my autistic experience. Having increased sensitivity to stimuli of
all kinds can be a core part of a person's autistic profile, but luckily we live in a
golden age of stuff where whatever problem you have, there's a product that will help. I don't know if our autistic ancestors also
struggled with sensory issues, back when they lived in caves, but modern life is certainly
noisier, smellier and itchier than ever before. So here are some solutions I use that I hope
could be of benefit to you as well. Everything is linked in the description box below, they
are Amazon affiliate links which means that should you wish to buy it, I would get a small
commission at no extra cost to you. Number 1. Spiral hair ties. My scalp is very
sensitive and kind of pulling on my hair is one of my stims anyway. When I was younger
wehad to have our hair tied back for school and I would get headaches from wearing my
hair up in a ponytail because I would need it to be tied in a certain way that would
then give me a headache by the end of the day It took me way too long to learn about these
things but they are a game changer. They don't pull but they keep your hair firmly in place.
They are also much easier to take in and out and they don't leave a kink in your hair
when you take them out at the end of the day. BONUS: they are really fun for a bit of scrunchy,
stimmy goodness, and I like to keep them in my pocket or around my wrist for when I need
them. Number 2. Elastic shoes laces. This is kind
of a new revelation for me in my life. I have this strange need to have my foot hugged at
the exact right pressure, which means that I never understand those people who could
just let their shoelaces go and have really loose shoes on. I also have to tie my shoes
in a certain way (with double knots) and this really takes a long time if you're going
in and out of the house and taking your shoes on and off. Anyway, I really wish that I'd
discovered these ones sooner, you thread them through the eyelets and then every shoe can
be a slip on. This is also a great tip for any pregnant woman as well. So I'm going
to order some in a whole bunch of colours and transform my shoe collection, so there's
much less swearing and cursing at my shoes on a day to day basis. Number 3. Non-sticky sunscreen. I used to
HATE wearing sunscreen as a child - and I still do if it's the wrong consistency.
And certainly on an everyday basis I was really reluctant to put it on. But this stuff is
so amazing. It says "Mild, airy finish". It's from
a brand that I found on Amazon called Etude House, and it goes on almost like a bit of
a primer, it sort of photoshops you a little bit. Anyway this stuff is SPF 50, it smells
super nice and lemony, and it just goes on very matte, it's not sticky at all, which
is great. Number 4. Menstrual cups. I tried the regular
menstrual cup the first time and I found it painful because most of them have a stick
that comes down from here and pushes into various parts of you when you sit down. However you can get them with rings on the
end. This makes them firstly, a lot more comfortable to have in, and secondly much easier to get
in (and particularly out) if you're a bit clumsy or just really not particularly dextrous,
like myself. My favourite brand is MeLuna, they are quite inexpensive, they come in a
wide variety of sizes, not just small medium and large but they also have shorter and longer
ones, and I think there could be something for almost everybody. I know some people still
don't like them but this was a bit of a game changer. Number 5. Noise cancelling headphones. These
are definitely a bit of a stereotype of autism as depicted in the media, but you don't
need to spend money on the really super expensive fancy Bose ones to get the job done. I got
mine in pink because everything else seems to be pink these days, and I thought they
would look more like I was trying to be cool and less like I'm desperately trying to
block out the sound of 10 screaming toddlers with bells at the Little Gym. Looking at myself, maybe I'm not as cool
as I think I am! I like them though. These ones are from Amazon,
they are a brand called TaoTronics, and they were about £50-60 - or Euros - not sure,
can't remember. But I found them really good, you can turn
the noise cancelling hiss on or off, and I just wear them actually a lot of the time
as ear defenders, rather than putting any music on them. But the music quality's good
and I would definitely recommend them and they do fold up very nicely, in a little box. Speaking of everything just being way too
loud. Don't underestimate the power of basic little foam earplugs. I know not everybody
can tolerate these but they are good if you want to be more subtle. I know this is like
really really obvious thing - wear earplugs if you want quiet, but the nice thing about
these is that they are also squishy, so they're a little like sensory toy, on the go that
you can fiddle with in your pocket. And no one will know. And I do also want to draw your attention
to another sort of earplugs which are musicians earplugs. Unfortunately mine have not arrived
yet at the time of filming, but these are basically, so you can go about your day and
you can still hear but they filter out certain frequencies of noise. So they're designed for musicians, who have
a lot of sound exposure, but they can still hear the music. So this could be a useful
thing if maybe you go to, well if you go to a concert, or if you go to anything which
has very very amplified sound, or if you're in maybe a crowded pub - that never happens
anymore - you know, something like that, where there's a lot of background noise and you
need to filter that out and concentrate on the sound that you do want to hear. If you have tried musician earplugs, please
let me know how they are because I'm really looking forward to trying them and seeing
if they make a difference because obviously the foam earplugs muffle a little bit, and
the noise cancelling headphones are kind of obvious. So they are like maybe a little bit more of
a subtle thing to use in certain situations. Now I don't want you to think you have to
go out and spend money just to provide comfort for yourself. So this one is completely free!
We all spend too much time looking at screens, and if you're watching this, you're looking
at a screen right now, but most smart phones these days have a setting which is called
"eye comfort" or something similar, which basically filters out the blue light from
the screens Autistic people might be particularly sensitive
to this blue light because it disrupts melatonin production and therefore has consequences
for your quality of sleep. And this is recommended for everyone, I think
everyone should just do this regardless of whether you're autistic or not. But if you do have problems sleeping it might
be worth looking into the light settings on your phone or tablet, or even on your laptop,
and to play around with that a little bit. I have mine set to come on between 7pm and
7am and then anytime I look at my screen during that time, there's no blue light emitted. Number 9. A silent or adjustable doorbell.
Now we used to have one of those doorbells that was obviously manual somewhere and it
was extremely loud and very jarring. And every single time the doorbell went, it would make
me jump. And I lived in this house for 5 years. When we moved house, our new doorbell was
right outside our son's bedroom, and it was even worse, so we immediately ripped it
off the wall and I did some research online. And I discovered that there are quite inexpensive
doorbells that you can get, that you can adjust the volume, and the ringtone, and these kind
of things on it. So we got one from a brand called Technet, this is the bit that you plug
in, and then there is a bit that you put outside that they push. And it works on WiFi I think,
might work on its own WiFi, something like that. So it has, this one has like 50 different
tones, I have it on a very very unobnoxious one, and you can set the volume level. Even
the softest volume on this is maybe a little bit louder than I would like, but you can
also turn the noise completely off, and it will only just, there's a blue ring here,
and it will flash when the doorbell rings, so you can turn it completely silent and still
be notified when the doorbell goes. Which I think is great. We got ours from a German website because
we wanted the European plug but I've linked a very similar one down below for my UK viewership. Number 10. Non-ticking clocks. Both me and
my husband are driven crazy by the sound of ticking clocks. I am vaguely anxious about
time keeping, so I like being able to see what the time is pretty much wherever I am.
So it really took a while to work out that these things even existed but then I thought
"Hmm, that about those clocks they have in train stations?", you know with just
the smooth hand, and I looked online and of course they exist. Ours is rose gold for when
you want to enjoy watching the passage of time and our inevitable descent into old age. Number 11. BONUS ROUND! This is kind of an
oblique one but bear with me. My bonus life hack is to drive an electric car. Now of course
there are environmental issues and there are also cost issues, but purely from a sensory
perspective electric cars are quiet, they are smooth and they are NOT stinky. If you
can install a charging point at home you also don't need to go to petrol stations where
the fumes are for me quite unbearable. So if you can afford it, I would definitely
recommend it. Or even just take one for a test drive and experience the difference for
yourself. Electric cars are really coming down in price. And of course, the Tesla Model
3 is going to be absolutely revolutionary, they are all over the roads here in the Netherlands
already. So if you have been eyeing the Tesla model
3 and are considering it for your next car, I do have a referral code for that. If you
use this code to order it you will get 1000 free supercharging miles (or 1500 supercharging
kilometers) depending on how metric you are, you'll also get a warm fuzzy feeling inside,
and I actually don't think I get anything from it anymore, so I'm just giving you
this for free. You're welcome! So that's everything! Have you tried any
of these things and did they help? Let me know in the comments down below: But while you're here, why not have a look
at these other videos on autism and neurodiversity and brain stuff? Keep clicking on my videos and I'm sure
at some point YouTube will reward me, in the afterlife. Thanks for watching, see you next time!
Ooo I have sleep issues and I make it worse by reaching for my tablet when I can’t sleep. I should try that!
The elastic shoe laces have been a game changer! I hate lacing my shoes.