Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today's article is lengthy, but includes multiple studies about autistic sociability.
For years, autism has been defined as an individualistic deficiency. Which is to say, the typical narrative is: "That child/adult is autistic, and therefore they have difficulties like problems reading social cues and abnormal eye contact." The focus is on the autistic person, and specifically, that person's weaknesses.
No mention is made of our strengths, nor is there a care for our interests, our enthusiasm, and the focus that allows us to become experts at our chosen fields. Nothing about what makes valuable as people. The medical model is only interested in deficits and weaknesses.
The research shows that not only are we more than our weaknesses, it also overthrows the medical model's stereotype of autistic people. We are sociable, like typically developing humans. We have empathy.
Below the headline, there's a quote from a team of researchers: "Style, not substance, drives negative impressions of the social life of people on the autism spectrum." This is from a study cited in the article.
It appears the communication issues that people experience when an autistic-neurotypical interaction occurs are more an issue of presentation. We don't appear as appealing or personable of a social partner as a neurotypical person would appear to be. However, the content of those interactions, how fulfilling and pleasant the conversations were, was rated equally with autistic people as it was typically developing people.
Essentially, the stigmas people hold about autistic people are far more damaging to our social lives than the actual inexperience with reading social cues or physical communication difficulties.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Today's article is lengthy, but includes multiple studies about autistic sociability.
For years, autism has been defined as an individualistic deficiency. Which is to say, the typical narrative is: "That child/adult is autistic, and therefore they have difficulties like problems reading social cues and abnormal eye contact." The focus is on the autistic person, and specifically, that person's weaknesses.
No mention is made of our strengths, nor is there a care for our interests, our enthusiasm, and the focus that allows us to become experts at our chosen fields. Nothing about what makes valuable as people. The medical model is only interested in deficits and weaknesses.
The research shows that not only are we more than our weaknesses, it also overthrows the medical model's stereotype of autistic people. We are sociable, like typically developing humans. We have empathy.
Below the headline, there's a quote from a team of researchers: "Style, not substance, drives negative impressions of the social life of people on the autism spectrum." This is from a study cited in the article.
It appears the communication issues that people experience when an autistic-neurotypical interaction occurs are more an issue of presentation. We don't appear as appealing or personable of a social partner as a neurotypical person would appear to be. However, the content of those interactions, how fulfilling and pleasant the conversations were, was rated equally with autistic people as it was typically developing people.
Essentially, the stigmas people hold about autistic people are far more damaging to our social lives than the actual inexperience with reading social cues or physical communication difficulties.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
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