Vestibular Sensitivity in Neurodivergent Adults

Dizziness, Motion Sickness, Escalators, and Why Movement Can Feel Threatening

If you have ever felt weirdly unsafe while nothing “bad” was happening, this article might give you language for it.

🎢 An escalator makes your stomach drop
🛗 Elevators make you feel disoriented for seconds (or minutes)
🚗 Car rides trigger nausea or a floaty panic
🌀 Busy supermarkets make you feel dizzy, foggy, or unreal
🧍 You avoid spinning, swings, or even turning quickly
🧠 You can feel motion in your body long after you stopped moving

For many autistic, ADHD and AuDHD adults, this is not “dramatic.” It is vestibular processing: your nervous system’s movement and balance channel.

And when it is sensitive, the world becomes harder in a very specific way.

Not mentally.
Physically.

🧾 Quick note: This is educational, not medical advice. If dizziness is sudden, severe, paired with fainting/chest pain/neurological symptoms, or is getting rapidly worse, it is worth getting checked.

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🧭 What the vestibular system is

Your vestibular system lives in your inner ear and helps your brain answer:

🧭 Where is my head in space?
🎡 Am I moving? How fast? In which direction?
🧍 Am I stable or tipping?
👀 How should my eyes stabilise the world while I move?

It works together with:

🧠 proprioception (body position)
🫀 interoception (internal signals)
👁️ vision (the biggest “anchor” for many people)

When the vestibular system is sensitive or inconsistent, movement can feel like a threat—even if you logically know you are safe.

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🌀 What vestibular sensitivity can feel like (adult patterns)

Vestibular sensitivity is not one thing. It can show up as:

🎢 1) Motion sickness / nausea patterns

🤢 cars, buses, trains, boats
📱 reading on a phone in motion
🎮 VR or fast camera movement in games
🧠 nausea that feels like anxiety (but isn’t)

🧊 2) Dizzy / floaty / unreal patterns

🌫️ “I feel off” in supermarkets or crowded streets
🧠 brain fog + disorientation
🫥 derealisation-like feelings (world feels unreal)
🚪 stepping through doorways and suddenly feeling strange

🧍 3) Balance and stability patterns

🧱 bumping into corners
🪑 feeling unstable when standing still
🧎 needing to sit down quickly
🧍 feeling safer when leaning on something

🛗 4) “After-motion” patterns

🌀 feeling movement after you stop
🛌 bed feels like it is swaying
🎧 head feels “full” after travel

👀 5) Visual-vestibular conflict

This is a major one for neurodivergent adults.

👁️ Your eyes see “still,” but your inner ear feels motion
👂 Or your inner ear feels still, but your eyes see motion (busy environments)

That mismatch can trigger:

😵 dizziness
🤢 nausea
🧠 cognitive shutdown
😰 panic-like feelings

It is not “all in your head.”
It is literally a sensory mismatch.

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🧠 Why this is common in autism, ADHD and AuDHD

Think in layers rather than one cause.

🧩 sensory processing differences
⚡ faster nervous system alarm response under uncertainty
🔁 attention regulation (not noticing early signs until they spike)
🧠 overload lowering tolerance across all senses
🌫️ burnout making sensory integration less stable

A simple frame:

📉 When your capacity is low, your brain has less “bandwidth” to integrate motion + vision + balance signals.
So movement becomes heavier. Faster. More threatening.

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🚦The “movement threat” loop

Vestibular sensitivity often forms a loop:

🎡 Movement feels weird →
😰 body interprets weird as danger →
🫁 breathing changes / muscles tense →
🧠 dizziness gets worse →
🚪 you avoid movement situations →
📉 tolerance drops further over time

Avoidance makes sense. It is protective.

But if avoidance becomes total, your system can become even more sensitive because it gets less graded exposure to safe motion.

This is not about forcing yourself.
It is about building tolerance gently, with control.

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🧩 The environments that trigger vestibular overload most

These are high-risk settings because they combine motion + visual complexity + social load:

🛒 supermarkets (aisles + lights + scanning + people)
✈️ airports (noise + queues + motion + uncertainty)
🚉 stations (crowds + fast visual movement)
🛗 elevators / escalators (vertical movement + sensation mismatch)
🚗 passenger seats (no control + motion mismatch)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 busy social events (motion + eye contact + background movement)

You might blame yourself for “being anxious in public.”
But often your body is dealing with multi-sensory motion conflict.

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🧰 What helps (practical tools)

The goal is not to “power through.”
The goal is to reduce sensory conflict and restore a sense of control.

🧭 Tool 1: Give your eyes an anchor

Vision is often the stabiliser.

👀 look at the horizon (outside, not inside the car)
🧱 pick one stable point (a sign, a wall edge)
📵 avoid reading on your phone in motion
🧢 reduce peripheral input (cap/hood can help)

In supermarkets:

🧭 look at the end of the aisle, not the shelves rushing past
🛒 stop moving for 3 seconds when dizziness rises
👣 walk slower than you think you “should”

🫁 Tool 2: Prevent the breath-hold spiral

Vestibular discomfort often makes people subtly hold their breath.

🫁 check: “am I breathing shallow?”
🌬️ do 3 longer exhales (not huge breaths)
🧊 relax jaw + shoulders (tension amplifies dizziness)

🎛️ Tool 3: Increase control (control reduces threat)

Control is a nervous system safety signal.

🚗 sit in the front seat if possible
🗺️ choose predictable routes
⏸️ plan micro-breaks
🧾 know where the exit is in busy spaces
🎧 use one sensory buffer (earplugs or sunglasses)

Even tiny control can change the whole experience.

🧱 Tool 4: Add proprioceptive “grounding”

When motion feels floaty, deep pressure and “heavy input” can stabilise.

🧥 snug layer / weighted lap pad (if comfortable)
🧱 lean into a wall briefly
🦶 feel feet fully on the ground
🤲 press palms together for 10 seconds
🧳 carry a backpack evenly (balanced weight)

You are telling your brain: “I have edges. I am here.”

🧊 Tool 5: The 30-second reset script

When the world starts to tilt:

🧭 “I am experiencing vestibular overload. This is a body signal, not danger.”
🧱 “I’m going to stabilise: feet, breath, anchor.”
🫁 “Long exhale.”
👀 “Pick one point.”
⏸️ “Pause movement.”

This sounds small, but giving it language reduces panic escalation.

🪜 Tool 6: Build a gentle exposure ladder (only if you want)

This is for the avoidance loop.

Pick one motion trigger (e.g., escalator).
Build micro-steps:

🟢 stand near the escalator for 1 minute
🟢 watch people use it while breathing slowly
🟢 step on with support (handrail) and step off after one ride
🟡 repeat on a low-stress day
🟡 go one step further next week

The rule:

🧠 exposure should feel “mildly uncomfortable but safe,” not terrifying.
📉 if it’s terrifying, the step is too big.

🌿 Tool 7: Reduce cumulative load on “motion days”

Vestibular sensitivity gets worse when your overall load is high.

On travel / shopping days:

🧃 eat and drink earlier than usual
🎧 reduce extra sensory input (music, podcasts, social calls)
🕰️ schedule recovery time after
🧊 keep the day simpler

The goal is to protect your baseline so motion doesn’t become the final straw.

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🧠 When dizziness is actually overload (not illness)

A useful question:

🧭 Does dizziness show up more in high-input environments?
🛒 supermarkets, crowds, fluorescent lights
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 social complexity
📉 burnout periods

If yes, vestibular + visual overload is a strong candidate.

But also:

If dizziness is new, escalating, random, or severe, rule out medical causes. You deserve clarity.

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🪞 Reflection questions

🌱 Light reflection
🎡 What are your top 2 motion triggers (car, supermarket, escalator, crowds)?
🧭 What helps even a little (front seat, horizon, pausing, hood, earplugs)?
🕰️ When is it worst (tired, hungry, stressed, after social contact)?

🧠 Deeper reflection
🧱 Where do you lose control in motion environments, and what is one small way to add it back?
🪜 If you built an exposure ladder, what would be your tiniest safe first step?
📉 How does vestibular overload interact with your burnout patterns?