Kristen, I think it is a positive thing that you are bringing to light the largely unresearched area of females with autism, especially those who are higher functioning.

Having trained with Dr. Aron personally and as a coach and teacher for highly sensitive people for the past six years, I would like to make a few comments, that are often misconceptions about Elaine’s work.

First, when she began studying this temperament trait back in the late 1990s, she believed that she was studying introversion, but after thousands of qualitative interviews, she recognized that about 30% of all highly sensitive people are extroverted.

Second, the self-test that you referenced is a scientifically validated instrument that she created early on in the research (early 2000s). In the past twenty years, the research into our trait has expanded into brain scans, animal populations (yes, there are highly sensitive animals) and many other researchers around the world are incorporating sensitivity into other personality research.

As a result, Dr. Aron identified four characteristics that make up the acronym DOES. A person must have all four to be considered highly sensitive:

• Depth of processing, or how deeply our brains process stimuli and information from our environment
• Overstimulation — the tendency to become drained or overwhelmed with too much noise, crowds, traffic, pressure, smells, etc.
• Emotional responsiveness and empathy — highly sensitive people’s brains fire more rapidly in response to both positive and to negative stimuli
• Sensitivity to subtleties — noticing of fine details, changes around us, pattern recognition

And because the percentage of sensitive people is 20 to even 30% of the human population, that moves being HSP out of the area of diagnoses and into the category of being a temperament trait. She believes there is an evolutionary advantage for a certain portion of the human population to be more aware, more empathetic, who pause before taking action and process more deeply. Just as there would be an evolutionary advantage towards those who jump in right away. We need all types of people to make the world work.

The research is showing that sensitivity is on a continuum or spectrum as well. All human beings react to stimulus in the environment, some more, some less, some extreme.

Dr. Aron states that it is entirely possible for someone to be an HSP and also have a diagnosis — that is the case with my brother, who has high-functioning Asperger's and expresses all four characteristics of DOES.

In briefly looking at the DSM criteria for an autism diagnosis compared to the HSP DOES, it appears that HSP and autism express quite differently.

I’m certain it is difficult to find answers when the research is limited. My personal belief about neurodiversity is that overall, it’s healthier to tell people, it’s ok to be who you are than ‘something is wrong with you.’ We all respond differently to labels, I’ve had numerous people in workshops or online be very resistant to identifying as highly sensitive, perhaps you’ve noticed the same with autism.

Of course when aspects of neurodiversity severely inhibit someone’s ability to function on a daily basis, that needs more support. I believe that as time goes on, we will continue to uncover more about the diversity of our brains, our nervous systems and our bodies. This is the next frontier.

Dr. Aron’s research, books and movies has been incredibly healing for so many who wondered why we experience the world a bit differently. Being an HSP means that nothing is wrong with me or with the approximately 1.4 billion other sensitive people on the planet. When both HSPs and those with autism honor who they are, learn how to care for themselves and make conscious choices — then life improves dramatically.

It’s entirely possible for a highly sensitive person and a person with high-functioning autism to thrive…