People getting your sensory issues all wrong?

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I was wondering if anyone has ever been mistaken about what people's sensory issues are. For instance, when I was a kid, I would occasionally find myself in settings in which we did the whole "shaving cream on waxed paper" activity, and even though I thought I went at the shaving cream with great enthusiasm, the people observing me always reported that I "seemed reluctant/hesitant" and "afraid to get dirty."

The thing is, when I recall all the other tactile, messy activities I enjoyed as a kid (including but not limited to splashing in rain puddles, playing in dirt, playing with stickers/adhesives, stamps, finger paint, feathers, balloons, Play-Doh, making cookies, cuddling with stuffed animals, being wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags, and all the tactile, messy activities most kids enjoy) the statements by the people watching me play with shaving cream just don't wash, at least to me they don't. While I enjoyed messy activities as a kid, my mother actually frowned upon many of them and insisted on keeping a clean house, a clean kid, etc and she would absolutely FREAK if I left a mess anywhere, if anything got stained, if I got dirty while in my "good clothes," dresses, etc. My father remembers blowing bubbles with bubble solution in the house with me one day, and my mother finding out and yelling at us to take them outside.

So, if I did appear reluctant to play with shaving cream, I honestly think it was because I wanted to avoid getting TOO dirty or making a mess to the point that everyone became angry with me like my mother would - does that make sense?

Interestingly enough, while people were quick to assume that my sensory issues where mostly tactile/touch-related, they never bothered to notice how bothered I was by crowds of people, sound loud noises, certain tones/pitches/timbres of voice, that sort of thing. I don't mean to say that I have NO tactile/touch sensory issues...I can't stand applying sunscreen, being tickled, wearing itchy, tight-fitting dressy clothes, and it still occasionally irks me to have someone else's skin brush against mine, the same way it did when I was a little girl. I just didn't have any issues with shaving cream, like everyone seemed to think I did.

Anyone else ever encounter this - people thinking you had a certain kind of sensory issues when the sensory issues you did have were far different from what "they" thought they were?

According to my mother, sensory issues I had were a personality problem, just me being fussy and persnickety. She liked to call me 'miss persnickety'.
My parents thought I was afraid of thunder and would keep telling me "it's only noise, it won't hurt you" even when I was 12 years old and older and I insisted it was the lightening I was afraid of. I knew thunder wouldn't hurt me. They didn't believe me.

Sort of. I'm not sure if this is quite what you're talking about, but I remember when I was a teenager at secondary school I used to have a phobia of the school bell. Even though I knew what times it would ring, I still hated being near one, because I was so fearful that I knew I would jump when it rang and my arms would involuntary move and I would look like a ''spastic'' (as what they called it). Also I didn't like the feeling of jumping out of my skin at loud sudden noises (I still don't now and I don't think I ever will). So when the class waited outside a classroom for the teacher to come (who always seemed to be late), I would stand away and sort of have my fingers near my ears because I didn't want to be near the bell when it rang for the next lesson. Some of the kids in the class used to say ''come and stand with us and take your hands away from your ears, we're not that loud!'' But it wasn't the kids what was making me put my fingers in my ears or stand away. It was because of the bell, but I was too embarrassed to tell them that because I know I was the only kid in the school who had a compulsive phobia of the bell.