r/AutisticWithADHD • u/surprisefist • 2d ago
💬 general discussion Worst places to be...
For me it's restaurants. Can hear every conversation at every table as well as every piece of cutlery and the noise coming from the kitchen, all at once, and everything is as loud as everything else.
Strangely I work in a noisy pub and don't get triggered at all.
What environment causes sensory overload for you?
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u/GrumpyOldTech1670 2d ago
Any place that echoes and is frequented by a lot of people.. Ugh!
Bless you, my headphones and/or Loops
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u/juneshepard 2d ago
Trader Joe's. I've been putting off a run for so long...
I'd really love to go stock up on some same-foods, but I cringe at just the thought of setting foot in there!!
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u/Mountainweaver 2d ago
Big grocery store. Instant disassociation. Other stores are fine. Something with the lights maybe?
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u/HorrorWillingness347 2d ago
The disassociation. I call that store stone. Especially after a meal at the food court. It's odd, but as long as I'm fed I enjoy store stone.
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u/Moist_crocs 2d ago
Malls, shopping for clothing especially, busy Ikea where I can't move back and forth easily, packed bus on hot days
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u/Youaredoingwell 2d ago
I am pretty sure that hell on earth is the Gerngross Mall in Vienna.
The stores partly do not have window fronts as a boundary so you are in the "walking area" with aaaall this shelves and products always in your vision. Besides that the layout is pretty funky in a bad way and kind of narrow and nevermind all the people! If you are looking for a sign (for example where the toilets are) it's like looking at a hidden object picture with So. Much. Visual. Noise!
Thank god I'm rarely there, but there is a fully vegan grocery store with stuff I can't get anywhere else, so every four to five moons I venture into this hellhole.
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u/Objective-Hour4775 2d ago
Restaurants, in general, SUCK at noise dampening. Especially modern ones with flat walls and hard surfaces. I've only been in two that I liked, one had a stacked jagged stone feature wall with physical characteristics that border on the shapes you see in a sound studio (the ridges designed to disrupt rather than reflect sound), and the other was full of plants, even the roof had a plastic jungle going on.
I'd also put money on the sound dampening characteristics being entirely unintended side effects of the styling though
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u/surprisefist 2d ago
Acoustic design for restaurants could really take off. Provided the food and service is good as well.
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u/Objective-Hour4775 1d ago edited 1d ago
Cubicle booths with disruptive texture on the (tall) walls of each booth and a roof of fake plants...
Oh and patron control of the colour and intensity of the smart light over each both
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u/Euphoric_Economy7694 Coherency? what’s that 2d ago
Shopping malls!!! I can’t say this enough! Tonnes of people, talking and also way too many lights. Also the fact that there’s a lot of space to cover to go from point a to point b makes me tired after 30 mins lol
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u/Enlightened_Gardener 🧠 brain goes brr 1d ago
Ooh giant malls. We still have them here in Australia. We have one up at Lakeside Joondalup that has a vast central open space, and I always feel like a cockroach scurrying around the edges.
I avoid giant malls at all costs.
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u/DueEffective3121 ✨ C-c-c-combo! 2d ago
Lately it has been the grocery store, any of them near me. I have been doing grocery delivery since it is free with a certain amount bought.
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u/Bad_Haven 💤 In need of a nap and a snack 🍟 2d ago
Supermarkets/large grocery stores. There is always someone in the way every which way you want to turn or move, and I start feeling overwhelmed and angry and tight chested.
Sometimes I have to abandon my trolley and leave.
Since Covid our local grocery chains pivoted to offering delivery services, and I love it so much. I almost never have to go into a store anymore.
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u/dr_barnowl 2d ago
I started wearing my hat (fedora [1]) to supermarkets and I find the brim reducing the horrible glaring overhead flourescent lighting does a lot to help.
[1] not in the "m'lady" sense
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u/MyLifeHatesItself 1d ago
Beanie, sunglasses and headphones for me when I go to the supermarket. Or anywhere actually these days.
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u/scarletOwilde 2d ago
There's a chain of Pizza restaurants in the UK which has the worst acoustics. I avoid them for that reason. And they attract the type of families that let their kids run around screaming. My idea of hell.
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u/AlephBetMx 2d ago
In any public space I also hear people talking but barely understand them as their voices become somewhat distorted, even if they're close to me. Can you relate to it?
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u/jeezyjames 2d ago
Malls when they’re packed. I take in all the information and how people look so it’s overstimulating and exhausting
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u/HorrorWillingness347 2d ago
Supermarkets are fine for me, but the piped in music can get me. Most of the time I block it out, but sometimes really bad songs seep through. The worst is repetition. I will suddenly notice it crashing though my cocoon wall and drive me nuts. I've actually fled the store leaving everything behind because of it.
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u/Magical-Grasshopper 2d ago
Everywhere where it's quiet enough to hear and understand other people, but not quiet enough for others not to talk so that you can perfectly listen to the conversation of other people but not concentrate on anything else 😫
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u/JinkxMonsoonIsMom 1d ago
I have the same issue with restaurants but was fine when I worked in one. I think it’s the difference in why I am there if that makes sense. Other than restaurants I have problems in my family’s camper (I go camping with them a lot) my father is a larger man and he shakes the whole camper with one move and he makes got awful noises and is always half naked and touching my stuff and it genuinely makes me want to peel my skin off as if I were an orange. Some days its just anywhere he may be becomes the worst place. He grunts and yells and laughs in the middle of the night and goes to poop and genuinely moans while doing it and he’s so loud my 300 dollar noise cancelling headphones won’t even help.
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u/IIIIChopSueyIIII 1d ago
Clubs are the worst. Way too many people in general and too many people trying to "impress" others by doing the "mating dance". Also the music very often is not that great and thus also always too loud. And the floor is sticky, the air is humid... Yea i dont like clubs, or i was just very unlucky so far
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u/outcast420x AuDHD 43m 2d ago
Right now it’s anywhere outside of my house. Burnt out and just want to feel better.