Keep the Headphones: Why Accommodations Are a Game Changer for Autistic People

A picture of me playing on my 3DS––with headphones.

I read an article last week about a headteacher’s opinion on accommodations for neurodivergent students.

Sarah Wild, the director of a school for autistic girls in England, argued that schools were overusing accommodations for uniforms, lessons, and noise-cancelling headphones.

She says that discomfort is a part of everyday life, and that people need to be acclimated to it:

“It is OK to feel uncomfortable. In fact, quite a lot of your life is uncomfortable as an adult, so removing uncomfortable feelings in childhood is unhelpful.”

There’s a lot to unpack here. While we’re all going to find ourselves in uncomfortable situations from time to time, implying that autistic children can’t use accommodations to cope is totally ignorant.

Besides, exposing them to negative sensory stimuli against their will can do more harm than good.

Autistic Brains Are Different From Non-Autistic Brains

While it comes naturally for neurotypicals to tune out whatever sensory stimuli is giving them trouble, many autistics don’t have that blessing. 

The reason is because autistic brains tend to have a bottom-up processing style (unlike neurotypical brains, which typically use a top-down method), meaning they take in the details prior to the big picture–and the details in question are mostly sensory-related). 

So even if we tried ignoring the incessant drilling next door or whispering sounds around us, it would be all in vain.

Therefore, forcibly exposing autistic children to negative sensory input doesn’t really address the problem, nor is it the solution.

It just teaches them that their sensory needs don’t matter, so what they end up doing is dissociating from the sensory pain in order to cope, often to the point of abandoning themselves.

It can also lead to masking behaviors, which can lead to people-pleasing, perfectionism, trouble setting boundaries, low self-esteem, identity crises, psychiatric and chronic illnesses, and burnout later in life.

In other words, it would be like tossing a freshwater fish into the sea and expecting it to behave like a saltwater fish.

Autistic People Use Accommodations in the Real World

Me having fun in the photo booth at a cousin's wedding. You can't tell, but I'm wearing Loop earplugs!

Wild’s reasoning for discouraging autistic kids from using accommodations is because the real world isn’t going to cater to them:

“We can’t adapt the entire world to meet the needs of autistic people all of the time … When you are an adult, you are going to face challenges, and sometimes that’s going to be hard. What we want for you is not to give up, or to feel like you can’t cope every time that happens, because then you’ll never try anything.”

I get it: I don’t expect every single person and business to cater to my needs. It wouldn’t be fair for me to expect complete and utter silence in spaces designed for socializing just because I'm overwhelmed.

But here’s the thing: in the real world, I can also choose whether or not I want to do something that makes me feel uncomfortable. If I know for a fact that I’ll be overstimulated, I either skip and do something else, or I bring my noise-cancelling headphones, earplugs, fidgets, or anything that can keep me grounded and in the moment.

I may not be able to change the environment, but I can change the way I experience it. Autistic people have the right to exist in public spaces, and they also have the right to access accommodations to participate in these spaces.

And denying them access to accommodations is downright cruel if you ask me.

But My Autistic Child Didn't Need Accommodations Before

Sometimes, autistic people don’t need many accommodations until later in life. They may go from having extra test-taking time in K-12 to needing noise-cancelling headphones in class to block out distracting sounds.

That’s because autism is a dynamic disability. This means that for some autistic people, their support needs can fluctuate from day to day, week to week, month to month, and even year to year.

This applies to their sensory needs. For example, they may be able to tolerate listening to live music at a bar without the need for headphones/earplugs, and the next day, they may be so overstimulated that the idea of going to the grocery store without their headphones/earplugs makes them sick––rinse and repeat.

If an autistic person needs accommodations when they didn’t need them before, it’s probably because they don’t have the capacity to do certain things without them due to stress, pain, mental health issues, sensory overload, prolonged masking, executive dysfunction, emotional dysregulation, added responsibilities and expectations, fatigue, sickness, and burnout.

From my personal experience, I wear noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs (depending on the time and place) to block out loud music, disturbing chatter, barking sounds, sirens, and booming thunder. It may not block out the noise entirely, but it helps dampen it to a reasonable level.

While headphones have been helpful for me, I’m also aware of the downsides to wearing them for long periods of time.

Can Accommodations Be Harmful for Autistic People?

Generally speaking, no. Reasonable accommodations can help autistic people navigate schools, universities, malls, concerts, football games, airports, and the workplace successfully.

The only time I would be concerned, if at all, is when it becomes a matter of safety, particularly with headphones.

If you’re playing loud music or noise-blocking sounds on, let’s say, Bluetooth headphones, it could damage your hearing, worsen sound sensitivity, or make you completely unaware of your surroundings (e.g. oncoming traffic).

Otherwise, use your accommodations as needed.

At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with teaching autistic people how to try new things and be resilient in tough situations. It's just that it shouldn't be done at the expense of their autonomy.

As someone on the autism spectrum, I'm more than eager to get out of the house and explore New Orleans, try new foods, and travel. In fact, I'm always daydreaming of trying new things in new places with friends and family.

But I also know what my limits are. If it's time for me to decompress, I let myself do that.

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