If you have never experienced it yourself, it can be difficult to understand what it’s like to feel deep anxiety and even physical pain as the result of being exposed to sensory stimuli like sounds, scents, lights, and crowds.
For people with sensory sensitivity, the intensity of these experiences ranges on a scale from mere inconvenience to completely incapacitating.
This issue is not nearly as rare as most people assume. In fact, 1 in 6 people living in the United States have either a sensory need or an invisible disability that makes them more prone to sensory needs. This group includes people with PTSD, autism, and dementia, as well as people who have had strokes.