Autistic people often speak about sensory overload as a highly negative impact on their daily life and wellbeing. Despite this community prominence, relatively little research has explored the concept itself and the research that has been conducted has mostly used clinician reports. This study, co-produced with autistic people, recruited 78 self-identified autistic adults to complete a qualitative survey about their experiences of sensory overload. From the data, two themes about the nature of sensory overload were developed: a functioning perspective and a ‘Fight, Flight, Freeze’ perspective. Three further themes constructed from the data related to the overload of high-level processing, the overload of low-level processing, and the fatigue associated with sensory overload.Anxiety and sensory processing differences are commonly experienced together, particularly in autistic people. Prior research has established that more sensory processing differences are likely to lead to greater trait anxiety. This project aimed to explore whether anxiety, particularly state anxiety, could also lead to more sensory processing differences. Determining the proper directions of causality would allow for more precise statistical modelling and greater self-insight for autistic people.

The participants in this study were all self-identified autistic people. The decision was made to not require diagnostic validation to mitigate issues of unequal access to diagnostic services. Participants were recruited through a combination of the University of Glasgow’s ‘Keeping in Touch’ participant database and Neurodiversity Network, and social media posts on Twitter and Facebook. Participants were then directed toward Qualtrics to complete the questionnaire.