Travelling as an Autistic Person

I’m sure we’ve all been there in the past. 

Travelling on a train, bus or tram and the low intense sun shines directly into our eyes. No matter where we turn we’re forced to endure this torture. Knowing the price will be a severe headache down the line for at least a couple of days.

Keeping ourselves to ourselves, thinking of the day ahead, and how we’re going to navigate the complexities coming our way. Being autistic in a world that is not designed for us. 

Then without exception hearing people constantly nattering in the background. Be it to their friend, family or a complete stranger. A barrage of words that have no real meaning or purpose. Talking for the sheer sake of talking. We don’t want to listen in but have no choice.

Or worst still being on a packed tram or train and having people brushing past us. Or being squashed and trapped with an intense feeling of wanting to escape and to get out of the situation, but being powerless to change it. Forced to endure it. At least until the next stop. Which of course feels like an eternity when your in such a stressful environment like this.

Trying our best to discreetly avoid eye contact, when there’s a sea of eyes in every direction.

If this is our daily commute it sucks every last drop of energy we have before we even get to work. It’s in the back of our minds when we’re working. Then by the time we arrive home we’re completely and utterly running on traces fumes.

Being autistic and travelling is one of the most difficult aspects of our lives.

Travelling in Cars

You would think that the perfect solution is to own a car. It does help. I certainly couldn’t live without mine. But even this isn’t without it’s flaws.

If the daily commute is long. Being stuck in traffic can be a daily occurrence. This is frustrating for everyone; but for autistic people like us it’s unbearable. 

If we’re unfortunate to have an older car the noise of the engine or the noise of the road can also sap the life out of us.

If your travel sick, like I am, being in the back of a car is the worse of all the options.

In a taxi you have the problem where you may have to sit next to the driver and make conversation with this person you’ve only just met and will probably never see again.

How to Make Travelling More Bearable

Avoid Travelling or Find a Different form of Transport

If the journey isn’t essential one solution may be to avoid travelling all together.

I’ve worked with many people who are autistic like myself and sometimes the hardest part of the day is coming into college, or going home, as they hate travelling so much. Sometimes getting a taxi instead of a bus can help, but when funding isn’t in place it can be very expensive to do this. It can often be the biggest barrier and the difference between a student coming into college or deciding not to.

If the journey isn’t essential you may decide the destination isn’t worth the pain of the journey there and back; or if your feeling a bit weak and low; putting it off until you’re feeling better.

When I was younger there were countless occasions where I took a very long walk home to avoid having to wait for and catch a bus. Or cycled for many miles as another alternative to avoid the dreaded bus.

Making Travelling More Comfortable or Bearable

The key to making travelling more bearable is to reduce sensory overload in anyway that you can.

The best method for this is full sized noise cancelling headphones or ear defenders. But in ear noise cancelling headphones are still a great deal better than nothing. I use both (depending on the situation). The difference they make is incredible. They’ve become more and more common over the past couple of years amongst the autistic community. They’re now widely available and can be bought at a reasonable price.

The next step is to wear either sunglasses or a cap. To avoid strong sunlight. These days it’s very rare for me to not use one of these. Doing this has massively helped to reduce my eye stain and headaches over the years.

When you’re younger taking a comforter such as a teddy or blanket can also help massively too.

Then there are the very obvious ways such as travelling outside of the rush hour in the morning and evening. If it’s for work or school you could possibly go in early and leave late as an example.

My Story

I really struggle with travelling. I’m not overly keen on driving a car but it’s the best solution of all the bad ones. Whenever I drive I nearly always wear sunglasses and for many years never listened to music. Now I listen to it to occasionally to alleviate boredom.

The worst form of transport, for me, is a tram. For the past couple of years I had to use a tram for the last part of my journey to work. Due to the extortionate cost of parking in the city. I hated it. Ways I ended up making it more bearable include:

• Using the closest park and ride to my work.
• Refusing to get on the busier trams (which would mean a much longer wait)
• Wearing noise cancelling headphones and sunglasses. 
• If I was feeling ill, or for special occasions like my birthday, pay for parking instead.
• In the end I changed the site I worked at to to avoid getting the tram. Which I know is quite extreme.

Buses for me are the second worst form of transport. I don’t catch them very often. Rightly or wrongly, because I try my best to fit in and not look too awkward, I tend to wear in-ear noise cancelling headphones. Rather than my favourite full sized ones. These do enough to cut out some of the noise. They also send a subtle message to others that you don’t wish to engage in a conversation. I always have them in without music playing.

Please comment below if you’ve got any stories or tips and tricks to help autistic people like us with hardships of travelling.