Uniquely Human: The Podcast Nature and the Neurodivergent Experience, with Becca Lory Hector
May 22, 2026
Becca Lory Hector, autistic self-advocate, researcher and author exploring sensory life and quality of living. She recounts moving from city to wild places and first encounters with silence and woods. They discuss how nature eases sensory load, creative pleasures outdoors, solo versus shared experiences, seasonal rhythms, and practical ways to bring nature close when access is limited.
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Moving Out Of The City Changed Everything
- Becca escaped New York City’s overwhelming sensory input by moving first to Colorado then rural Maine, which dramatically improved her regulation and quality of life.
- She describes her first real immersion in nature in the Berkshires and later at Red Rock State Park as transformative, feeling “unbothered” and deeply relieved.
Nature Cuts Social And Sensory Load
- Nature reduces social and sensory burdens simultaneously, giving autistic people fewer social obligations and less sensory input to manage.
- Becca says minus the people you minus politeness demands, dress rules, and constant processing pressure, which makes regulation easier.
You Must Experience Regulation To Recreate It
- Many autistic people only learn what being regulated feels like after leaving overstimulating environments, enabling them to intentionally recreate that state.
- Becca notes she couldn't replicate regulation until she experienced quiet rural life and then could model it in her routines.
