6. “Too Sensitive” (Or So They Said)
Ever notice how you can instantly read someone's discomfort across a crowded room, but when you mention your own sensory needs, you're being "dramatic"?
If you were labeled "too sensitive" growing up, welcome to the AuDHD sensitivity paradox.
Many AuDHDers experience a specific double-whammy: ADHD emotional sensitivity (hello, rejection sensitivity dysphoria) plus autistic sensory sensitivity. You're hypervigilant to everyone else's needs while desperately needing accommodations they dismiss as "too much."
Here's the plot twist: Your "too sensitive" label wasn't a character flaw. It was your nervous system giving you accurate data about what you needed to function. The problem isn't that you're needier than others - it's that your needs require active accommodation while theirs are built into social defaults.
When you stop fighting your sensitivity and start treating it as information, everything shifts. Your body knows exactly what it needs. The goal isn't becoming less sensitive - it's designing a life that honors what your sensitivity reveals.
In This Episode:
Why the AuDHD sensitivity combo creates an impossible accommodation paradox
How childhood "princess" behavior was actually nervous system protection (not being demanding)
The HSP to AuDHD pipeline and why these traits cluster together for many of us
Real examples of designing for both sensory overwhelm and emotional sensitivity
Permission to need what you need without proving it's "real" first