Animals and Autistics
Some autistic people prefer to spend their time with animals instead of people. I am not one of these, but I often prefer to spend my time with kids instead of adults. The reason though is pretty much the same. Kids and animals are easier to figure out and understand than adult humans. It can depend on your upbringing and what you are more familiar with. I grew up with kids and babies, so I relate well to them. Some people grew up with pets, so that is who they are used to relating to.
I have recently noticed some big similarities between dogs and autistics. We both have hypersensitivity in certain areas. Dogs can hear and smell things that normal humans can't. Have you ever wondered why dogs like to go in car rides and hang their heads out the window? I used to think that they liked the wind in their face, but I recently discovered that it is because of all of the smells that they can detect on a road trip. There are smells everywhere and they can smell things that we can't. A road trip is an adventure for their nose and brain, especially when you hang out in the same house with the same smells all day long. Dogs can tell a lot by smell, which is why they sniff butts so much, both of other dogs and of humans. It is a big source of communication and information for them. Some dogs are trained to sense harmful medical conditions in advance of the human knowing that they will happen. There are other dogs who are trained to sniff out drugs or explosives. Some breeds are specially trained for scent tracking, like blood hounds. There are dogs that can smell low blood sugar or other health problems. This is because dogs have a sense of smell that is hypersensitive compared to humans.
They can also hear things before we can. A dog can hear a thunderstorm approaching long before it arrives and the fear in them is real, even though we humans can't hear or see the storm yet. I have been around a dog that was scared from the approaching thunderstorm that she could hear, but I couldn't. When she sensed that I wasn't afraid of the storm, she wanted to stay beside me for comfort. She has also sensed on previous occasions when I was having a bad day and she could sense it by smell. While my friend was comforting me, the dog parked herself nearby as a lookout and protector of me, even though there was nothing around me to physically protect me from. She was doing what she could to help me because she could sense that I needed help.
Dogs also use their tails to show and possibly regulate their emotions. A happy dog has a vigorously wagging tail. When we are dealing with lots of emotions, both good and bad, using our hands and other parts of our body to get the emotion out is helpful. It is like releasing small amounts of water through a controlled release in order to keep the dam from breaking when the pressure gets too much to handle. If those controlled releases aren't allowed to happen, the. The dam will break, and the damage will be done. This shows up differently in different people. For some it could be anger, while for others like me, it is crying uncontrollably.
When dogs go on walks with their owners, they can often go at different paces because each is processing the world thru their senses differently. The human only sees and smells and hears certain things, while the dog sees and smells and hears even more and will sometimes need more time to process the incoming information. I have watched people on walks with their dogs and seen how the dog sees or hears or smells something and the human is pulling on the leash to get the dog to keep up with them. I know the intentions of the human, but I can also place myself in the perspective of the dog. People around me don't notice everything that my senses take in, so they keep a different pace in life than I do and often aren't willing to wait for me while I mentally process all of the incoming information that my senses are taking in. Sometimes the people around me just aren't aware that I need the extra time, so they assume something else, like lack of interest on my part, and they move on in life without me. This makes socializing more difficult for me. I need socialization and friendships, but they can also be hard for me because the world and the people in it move at a faster pace than what I need most of the time.
Autistics don't have the hypersensitivity to the same level as dogs, but it is higher than most humans and things that have no impact on others can have a serious impact on us, in both good and bad ways. Most people don't know or understand the level of hypersensitivity that we have, so hopefully this comparison to dogs will help more people to understand a bit more of how much things impact us when we deal with hypersensitive senses 24/7. If you understand that your pet is hypersensitive to certain sounds or smells and you care about that pet enough to care for it and help them thru dealing with these hypersensitive senses, then you can transfer that caring attitude to the people in your life who have hypersensitive senses and understand that they need care and consideration while they try to cope with things in life that don't necessarily bother you.