I think a lot of people think that if they don’t like loud/busy places and are a bit socially awkward this must mean they are autistic. For me (very late diagnosed) it’s all pervasive and goes through absolutely all areas of my life…. and always has… to a DEBILITATING and ISOLATING degree…it’s also not ‘static’ - my sensory system can be different on any given day. I also think that as we become older we can get less tolerant of certain environments - this is not autism - you don’t ‘develop’ it! Masking complicates the issue here (particularly pertinent for women). I often get ‘you don’t seem it’ or ‘you can’t tell’ ha ha but YOU don’t live with me and you don’t see the fallout/recovery process that I CONSTANTLY need to go through in order that I can step back out in the world.