Here are 8 reasons why being in a public environment might be so hard, anxiety-provoking or tiring for people on the autistic spectrum.
1. Increased sensory input
Human beings create a lot of sensory information! Every single person has a unique smell, they might create noise (for example: talking, shoe shuffling, coughing, music coming from their earphones, them typing on their laptop...), they might generate visual input (for example: their bright coloured or patterned clothes, their motion...). The more people there are, the greater the amount of sensory input there will be. This sensory input will be absorbed and manually processed by the person with ASD, in comparison to neurotypical people who appear to automatically process this input. Basically, the person will experience greater discomfort and has to make significantly more effort.