The Double Empathy Problem
Historically, Autistic people have been thought to have deficits in social communication. Basically, this means that researchers and clinicians have thought that Autistic people cannot engage in social communication as well as allistic (or non-Autistic) people. These deficits in social communication have been targeted with applied behavior analysis therapy, which typically aims to discourage the Autistic individual from embodying Autistic traits and behaviors and encourages them to display allistic traits and behaviors.
However, recent research has challenged this idea. Damian Milton and his colleagues have found that Autistic people do not have deficits in social communication compared to allistic people. Instead, the researchers found that Autistic people build rapport and connect easily with each other, just as allistic people build rapport and connect easily with each other. The researchers found that two Autistic people tended to communicate well together. They tended to understand each other and build rapport, or feel a sense of connection with each other. Similarly, two allistic people tended to communicate well together and build rapport and connection. But if an Autistic person and an allistic person were asked to communicate, each had difficulty communicating with the other.
This finding is very important. The researchers found that allistic individuals had just as much difficulty communicating with and understanding Autistic individuals. Interestingly, researchers have also found that allistic people don’t necessarily realize that they are having trouble understanding Autistic people. They might overestimate their ability to communicate well with people who have different neurotypes.
Milton and his colleagues describe this as the Double Empathy Problem. Studies show that Autistic and neurotypical people equally struggle with understanding each other’s thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Autistic people have difficulty communicating with and understanding allistic people, and allistic people have difficulty communicating with and understanding Autistic people. The social communication difficulties go both ways. It’s not that only Autistic people have trouble communicating with allistic people, as was previously thought. Overall, Milton’s research and the Double Empathy Problem suggest that communication difficulties between Autistic and allistic people stem from mutual misunderstanding, not Autistic social deficits.
What Are Some Differences in Autistic and Allistic Social Communication?
The Double Empathy Problem suggests that neither Autistic nor allistic social communication is inherently better, and neither is inherently wrong. Rather, Autistic and allistic social communication norms are different. Allistics tend to expect eye contact, small talk, and indirect communication, while Autistic people often prefer less eye contact, deep conversations, and direct communication.
I think it’s very important for Autistic people to understand the Double Empathy Problem. As Autistic people, we receive a lot of messages from society that the way we communicate and interact is plainly wrong. Many clinicians and researchers still hold these biases despite recent research suggesting otherwise. I think it’s important for Autistic individuals to realize that allistics also struggle with communicating with people outside of their neurotype.
So How Can We Improve Cross-Neurotype Communication?
Currently, Autistic people receive many messages from many different sources that our way of communicating is wrong. We are often blamed for shared communication difficulties and expected to conform to an allistic social communication style, which can contribute to masking for some individuals. I think one way we can improve cross-neurotype communication is by viewing Autistic and allistic social communication norms as different, not deficit.
I like viewing Autistic–allistic social interactions as cross-cultural interactions. If two people from two very different countries and cultures were having a social interaction, it would be important for each person to be aware that the other has different cultural norms and social communication expectations and tendencies. They should be aware that they might sometimes struggle to communicate effectively with and understand each other. However, each person could help to bridge these differences by being respectful of the other person’s culture and working to clear up any misunderstandings that occur. What wouldn’t be helpful is if one person from one country blamed the other person for cross-cultural communication difficulties.
For instance, if someone from Japan and someone from Sweden were trying to talk to each other and build a relationship, it’s very likely that the Swedish person might not understand everything the Japanese person does, and vice versa. But by respecting each other’s cultural differences, they can have healthy communication and respect of each others’ differences.
I think that Autistic and allistic people could learn a lot from this perspective. If both parties recognize that they have different ways of communicating and work to bridge these differences, communication would likely improve, and no one party would be blamed for the shared difficulties.
References
Milton, D. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem.’ Disability & Society, 27(6), 883–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008
Crompton, C. J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C. V., Flynn, E. G., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective. Autism, 24(7), 1704–1712. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286
Sasson, N. J., Faso, D. J., Nugent, J., Lovell, S., Kennedy, D. P., & Grossman, R. B. (2017). Neurotypical peers are less willing to interact with those with autism based on thin slice judgments. Scientific Reports, 7, 40700. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40700
Edey, R., Cook, J., Brewer, R., Johnson, M. H., Bird, G., & Press, C. (2016). Interaction takes two: Typical adults exhibit mind-blindness towards those with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(7), 879–885. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000199
Heasman, B., & Gillespie, A. (2019). Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding. Autism, 23(4), 910–921. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361318785172