Today is Independence Day in the United States. One of the biggest traditions of the week is to have firework displays. Different communities in the area have them on various days of the week. This year on social media and online there has been a lot of discussion about how to make this week sensory friendly or where other family members of those who are sensitive to sound are sharing their experiences.

While I did briefly explain my first up close experiences in 2020 with the year before. Things have changed and now that I am in a better position to explain things than what I did back then and indeed things have changed I feel like I needed to share another blog post on this topic.

Our town usually has fireworks display on the weekend before or after and not often on July 4^th itself. The county seat is the same way and that is perfectly fine. Until five years ago I never went to a firework watching event. Until then, I was terrified by the sudden sounds of fireworks. Once in my hometown, I was blessed to have them set off on our family farm by the local fire company during their carnival. I was terrified.

When I went to the display here in town five years ago, I liked it. However, I deployed my headphones with music as they were a tremendous help. I went one more time to the primary area, but last year I went to the other bridge in town where they could be seen from afar. Still with the fireworks and a combination of the highway noise, the headphones were still needed.

Also starting last year, I tuned in to a local news station’s showing of the city’s fireworks. This is equally as enjoyable as going in person as they play a host of songs in addition to having many cameras set up around the city so you can see them at various angles for about a half an hour or so. It is a nice and relaxing experience to end the day.

As a family, we have always had gatherings. While small, they all were accepting and understanding of my needs and was fine if I needed to do my thing that did not always consist of me being with them. It at times included nieces and nephews that were children and teenagers that now have their own families as we went camping. Some years we went to my grandparents vacation cabin at the lake and years after they sold it, we always had gatherings at their house.

There were instances where I had issues with others, but they were easily resolved with my parents or my siblings. They knew that I needed to have my space and while they would ask if I wanted to go with them to fireworks in town, I would politely decline, and that was accepted without question. So, that is a quick synopsis of how I do fireworks and cope with the holiday gatherings that can be overwhelming to autistic people, including myself at times, but I know the tools that I need and can do much better than I did in the past.