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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

Somewhere in then-Time Warner Cable Arena in 2008, the Charlotte Bobcats cut the lights, turned up the rock music and ignited the flamethrowers and strobe lights to welcome their players to the floor.

Somewhere outside in the upper-level concourse though, a kid in an Adam Morrison jersey is covering his ears and being comforted by his mom that player intros would soon be over and the fun game would begin.

That kid was eight-year-old me.

When I was in preschool, I was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder. In short, I had a hard time determining noise levels, which both made me talk louder than I should and perceive other noises as much louder than they are.

When enough loud noises stacked up on each other, I experienced sensory overload. Bobcats games were one of my triggers as a kid.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the resources to handle my condition as well as I do now. The phrase “mental health” was years away from entering the public lexicon, which compounded things as I was later diagnosed in seventh grade with generalized anxiety disorder.

My parents did the absolute best they could.  Like in the Bobcats scenario I led with, they comforted me during sensory overloads and sent me to two different stints of occupational therapy in elementary school to help me develop coping mechanisms.

I was one of the lucky ones. My condition, while troublesome at times, is mild and rarely had a debilitating effect my life growing up.

However, I’ve seen others with mental health conditions, sensory disorders and special needs be misunderstood by the world in ways that have led to great harm.

That’s why I was so quick to pounce on writing our Profile story on former Helena police chief Brad Flynn. As I learned through our interview, his son Colin was born with trisomy-5, a genetic condition that makes him present similar traits as those with autism show.

I was inspired by how he used his position to fight for a better world for his son. He helped partner with KultureCity, a Birmingham-based non-profit that provides sensory awareness training for large venues and equips people with tools that can help those with sensory disorders communicate and destress during overload moments.

Because of Helena’s efforts to become just the second city in America to be trained for sensory inclusion, HPD now trains departments around the Southeast and successfully lobbied for the training to be mandated statewide.

Shelby County now stands as a much more welcoming place than it was years ago. When I attended Old Town Live on April 5, HPD had fully rolled out its spaces and tools to accommodate those with sensory needs. Calera has spearheaded similar efforts led by police chief David Hyche after his child was diagnosed with a similar condition.

Having seen KultureCity’s efforts firsthand with local police departments and at local entertainment venues like Protective Stadium and Legacy Arena, I am so grateful that kids today can grow up in a world that not only understands them but accommodates them, not just pushing them to the margins for families to struggle to figure out how to care for them.

I, for one, would have loved for my mom to be able to go to guest services at Time Warner Cable Arena and pick up a sensory bag with noise cancelling headphones and multiple tools like fidget spinners and stress balls to help calm me down during an overload.

I’ve grown much more accustomed to life with sensory processing disorder as I’ve aged and have lived a very normal life for years now. I now cover sports for a living, which are full of things that used to trigger me like dueling marching bands, sudden loud shouts from fans and strobe lights. When I’m not covering sports, I’m probably at one of the obscene number of concerts I attend each year, which are even louder than games. You might occasionally spot me with ear plugs, but that’s more so I can hear my future children when I’m older after being around live events for all of my 20s.

I’m excited that I got an opportunity to spotlight the many different organizations in our area working to make the world a better place for people like eight-year-old Andrew. I encourage you to not only research and support those organizations but look for ways to be more welcoming for those who may be different than you in your day-to-day life.

They may just wind up becoming your local sports reporter.