4 ms·

Can confirm that an autistic person I know is the only person I've ever seen treat bathroom hand dryers as intrusively / unbearably loud devices.

• EvanAnderson 3y ago
  My daughter hates them. I don't think she's autistic but she does have sensitive hearing. (Whispering between her parents doesn't often go unnoticed, frustratingly sometimes.)
  • TeMPOraL 3y ago
    My 4yo daughter is getting instant panic attacks when one of those hand dryers turns on next to her. I hope this isn't a spectrum thing, but the thought often crosses my mind.
    • ben_w 3y ago
      For what it's worth, loud noises always bothered me as a kid. Even the (1000-person audience) applauding after each performance of the end-of-year talent contest in my first two years of secondary school (aged 12 and 13) was so loud I managed to get taken out of the hall because I was crying from the pain. However, despite some people trying to call me "autistic" as a term of abuse (including a line manager!), my actual score on an (online) autism spectrum test was solidly in the "mundane and normal" category.