‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication
Autistic people socialise and communicate differently to non-autistic people. However, definitive accounts of what this social communicative style might look like, from an autistic perspective, have so far been limited. This qualitative research explored autistic people’s accounts of their own socia...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Stockholm University Press
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research |
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| Online Access: | https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1184 |
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| author | Holly E. A. Sutherland Sue Fletcher-Watson Joseph Long Catherine J. Crompton |
| author_facet | Holly E. A. Sutherland Sue Fletcher-Watson Joseph Long Catherine J. Crompton |
| author_sort | Holly E. A. Sutherland |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Autistic people socialise and communicate differently to non-autistic people. However, definitive accounts of what this social communicative style might look like, from an autistic perspective, have so far been limited. This qualitative research explored autistic people’s accounts of their own social communication behaviour and experiences of face-to-face interactions, to better understand the autistic social communicative style. Nine autistic adults (4 women, 1 nonbinary, 4 men; aged 23-70) took part in an online, forum-style focus group over the course of two weeks, participating in discussions about how they signalled (dis)interest and (un)enjoyment during conversations; what their natural social communication behaviours were; what talking to autistic people was like, compared to non-autistic people; and anything else they thought researchers should know. From this, five themes were developed: autistic experiences of self, attention, and environment; autistic expectations about how social interactions should work; conflicts between autistic and neurotypical-normative expectations; the constant effort of compensation and masking; and finding and creating shared understandings across neurotypes. Our findings highlight the complex interplay of autistic differences/difficulties with autistic people’s social environment, and emphasise the role that neurotypical-normative environments play in constructing autism as a social communication disability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e016dcff5b4d4a97bfeee2a037103b51 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 1745-3011 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Stockholm University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-e016dcff5b4d4a97bfeee2a037103b512025-07-18T06:42:14ZengStockholm University PressScandinavian Journal of Disability Research1745-30112025-06-01271313–329313–32910.16993/sjdr.11841184‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social CommunicationHolly E. A. Sutherland0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2918-4881Sue Fletcher-Watson1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2688-1734Joseph Long2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3889-8912Catherine J. Crompton3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5280-1596University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghScottish AutismUniversity of EdinburghAutistic people socialise and communicate differently to non-autistic people. However, definitive accounts of what this social communicative style might look like, from an autistic perspective, have so far been limited. This qualitative research explored autistic people’s accounts of their own social communication behaviour and experiences of face-to-face interactions, to better understand the autistic social communicative style. Nine autistic adults (4 women, 1 nonbinary, 4 men; aged 23-70) took part in an online, forum-style focus group over the course of two weeks, participating in discussions about how they signalled (dis)interest and (un)enjoyment during conversations; what their natural social communication behaviours were; what talking to autistic people was like, compared to non-autistic people; and anything else they thought researchers should know. From this, five themes were developed: autistic experiences of self, attention, and environment; autistic expectations about how social interactions should work; conflicts between autistic and neurotypical-normative expectations; the constant effort of compensation and masking; and finding and creating shared understandings across neurotypes. Our findings highlight the complex interplay of autistic differences/difficulties with autistic people’s social environment, and emphasise the role that neurotypical-normative environments play in constructing autism as a social communication disability.https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1184autismdouble empathy theoryinteractionneurodiversity |
| spellingShingle | Holly E. A. Sutherland Sue Fletcher-Watson Joseph Long Catherine J. Crompton ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research autism double empathy theory interaction neurodiversity |
| title | ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication |
| title_full | ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication |
| title_fullStr | ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication |
| title_short | ‘A Difference in Typical Values’: Autistic Perspectives on Autistic Social Communication |
| title_sort | a difference in typical values autistic perspectives on autistic social communication |
| topic | autism double empathy theory interaction neurodiversity |
| url | https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1184 |
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