I Think If You Don’t Have Sensory Difficulties, It’s Easier To Diminish Them As A Matter Of “preference.”

i think if you don’t have sensory difficulties, it’s easier to diminish them as a matter of “preference.” but they are not.

when i, an autistic person, say “I cannot handle bell pepper,” I don’t mean “I would rather avoid it.” i mean actively, if all the food offered to me for six days straight contained bell peppers, i would starve. there is nothing on this entire planet that would make me eat them, because i can not handle them. and so by extension, when another autistic person only has four-or-five meals that they will eat, removing one of these meals will not allow for a substitute to occur. it’ll be one meal less they’re eating. and these same foods can be brand-specific. even if you, as a person without sensitivities, can’t tell a sensory difference, it is possible for people with these differences to be able to. there’s a whole disorder named after this. (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder.)

this isn’t a die-hard rule. some of us have extreme sensitivities and are brand specific. some of us do not. some of us can tolerate it. some of us cannot. but do not get upset at autistic people who point out something such as “it is very possible for us to only want to eat that one specific type of Kraft Mac and Cheese and abandoning that would starve us.”

(OK to reblog!)