UNDERSTANDING ADHD, AUTISM, OVERLAPPING DISABILITIES & SENSORY OVERLOAD
🧠♿ UNDERSTANDING ADHD, AUTISM, OVERLAPPING DISABILITIES & SENSORY OVERLOAD
Did you know someone can be highly knowledgeable, articulate and intelligent, yet suddenly struggle to remember information, answer a question or even speak?
There are neurological, psychological and physiological reasons why this can happen.
Let's explore some terminology and the science behind it.
🧩 ADHD — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting attention regulation, impulse control and executive functioning.
Executive functions are cognitive processes that help us organise information, plan, concentrate, regulate our responses and complete tasks.
ADHD can affect:
• Working memory — holding and using information temporarily.
• Attention regulation — directing and sustaining attention.
• Information retrieval — accessing previously learned information.
• Task switching — moving between different demands.
• Inhibitory control — managing distractions and automatic responses.
Someone may understand a subject very well but struggle to recall information when unexpectedly questioned, distracted or overwhelmed.
🌈 ASD — Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition associated with differences in social communication, sensory processing and patterns of behaviour or interests.
Autistic people may process information differently and require additional time to interpret questions or formulate responses.
Autism does not automatically indicate an intellectual disability.
🧩 AuDHD — Autism + ADHD
AuDHD is an informal term for the co-occurrence of autism and ADHD.
These conditions can interact in complex ways.
For example, someone may experience a strong preference for predictability while also struggling with attention regulation, impulsivity or organisation.
People with AuDHD can have different combinations of strengths, challenges and support needs.
🔊 SENSORY PROCESSING DIFFERENCES
Sensory processing refers to how the nervous system receives, interprets and responds to sensory information.
This includes:
👂 Auditory — sound and background noise.
👀 Visual — light, movement and visual stimulation.
🖐️ Tactile — touch, pressure and textures.
👃 Olfactory — smell.
👅 Gustatory — taste.
🧭 Vestibular — balance and movement.
🦴 Proprioceptive — awareness of body position.
💓 Interoceptive — awareness of internal bodily sensations.
Some people experience hypersensitivity (increased sensitivity), hyposensitivity (reduced sensitivity), or a combination of both.
Sensory processing difficulties can occur alongside autism, ADHD and other conditions.
⚡ WHAT IS SENSORY OVERLOAD?
Sensory overload occurs when sensory demands exceed someone's ability to process or manage them comfortably.
Multiple voices, bright lighting, interruptions, physical discomfort and unexpected demands can become overwhelming.
Possible responses include:
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Slower responses.
• Increased distress or fatigue.
• Difficulty organising thoughts.
• Withdrawal from interaction.
• Reduced verbal communication.
• An urgent need to escape stimulation.
These responses vary between individuals.
🔇 AUTISTIC SHUTDOWN & SITUATIONAL SPEECH LOSS
Not all overwhelm is outwardly visible.
An autistic shutdown is commonly described as a response to overwhelming demands in which someone may become withdrawn, less responsive or temporarily unable to communicate as usual.
Some autistic people experience situational speech loss, meaning they may be able to speak in one situation but temporarily struggle or become unable to speak in another.
This can happen even when they understand what is being said.
Temporary speech loss is not automatically the same as selective mutism, an anxiety-related condition characterised by an inability to speak in particular social situations.
🧠 WHY DOES THE BRAIN SOMETIMES GO BLANK?
Working memory has a limited capacity.
The brain must divide attentional resources between competing demands.
Stress, pain, fatigue, distractions and excessive sensory input can interfere with concentration, memory retrieval and verbal responses.
For example, someone might be trying to simultaneously:
• Interpret a question.
• Filter background noise.
• Manage physical pain.
• Regulate stress.
• Remember relevant information.
• Organise an appropriate verbal response.
When these demands compete, the person may lose their train of thought, struggle to find words or experience a feeling of their mind going blank.
This does not necessarily mean the information is absent from their memory.
💜 OVERLAPPING DISABILITIES & CONDITIONS
Many people live with multiple conditions simultaneously.
These can include:
CPTSD — Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Can involve difficulties with emotional regulation, threat responses, concentration and relationships following prolonged or repeated trauma.
POTS — Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. An autonomic nervous system disorder associated with an excessive increase in heart rate upon standing, often accompanied by dizziness, fatigue and cognitive difficulties.
hEDS — Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. A hereditary connective-tissue disorder associated with joint hypermobility, instability, chronic pain and other symptoms.
SPD — Sensory Processing Disorder or sensory processing difficulties. A term used for difficulties processing and responding to sensory information. SPD is not universally recognised as a separate medical diagnosis.
Chronic pain — Persistent pain that can affect sleep, attention, cognitive performance and energy levels.
Having several conditions can create interacting difficulties.
Physical symptoms may consume attention and energy that would otherwise be available for communication, concentration or everyday activities.
Importantly, functioning can fluctuate significantly depending on the environment, symptoms, fatigue and stress.
🌱 WHAT IS LATERAL ABLEISM?
Lateral ableism describes ableist assumptions, attitudes or behaviours directed towards disabled people by others who are themselves disabled.
Having lived experience of one disability does not necessarily provide an understanding of another.
Different disabilities can affect communication, cognition, movement, sensory processing and daily functioning in very different ways.
Recognising this is important for creating inclusive disability and neurodivergent communities.
💚 WHAT DOES ACCESSIBLE COMMUNICATION LOOK LIKE?
✅ Providing additional processing time.
✅ Asking one question at a time.
✅ Reducing competing noise and distractions.
✅ Offering written or alternative communication.
✅ Allowing breaks when needed.
✅ Recognising fluctuating abilities.
✅ Avoiding assumptions based on speech or processing speed.
✅ Understanding that someone can be knowledgeable even when they cannot immediately verbalise what they know.
Neurodivergence and disability are not one-size-fits-all experiences.
Understanding the interaction between our brains, nervous systems, physical health and environments can help us create more accessible communities.
💜 Different brains. Different bodies. Different needs. Equal dignity.
📚 SOURCES & FURTHER READING
1. NHS England — More Than Words: Supporting Effective Communication With Autistic People (2022).
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2022/10/More-than-words-supporting-effective-communication-with-autistic-people-in-health-care-settings-3.pdf
2. National Institute of Mental Health — Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-what-you-need-to-know
3. National Autistic Society — Sensory Processing.
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/about-autism/sensory-processing
4. National Autistic Society — Autism and Communication.
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/about-autism/autism-and-communication
5. CHADD — Executive Function Skills.
https://chadd.org/about-adhd/executive-function-skills/
6. Rosello et al. (2022) — Autism and ADHD Co-occurrence: A Systematic Review of Cognitive, Social, and Behavioural Characteristics.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34961363/
7. NHS — Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS).
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/postural-tachycardia-syndrome/
8. NHS — Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ehlers-danlos-syndromes/
#DisabilityEducation #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #SensoryProcessing #SensoryOverload #ExecutiveFunction #AutisticShutdown #CognitiveOverload #Neurodiversity #LateralAbleism #Accessibility #InvisibleDisabilities
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