'Read my lips, not my body': a thematic analysis of autistic people’s social communication preferences

Added on 23/09/2024

Type de contenu

Journal article of the type Testimony ( ; english)

'Read my lips, not my body': a thematic analysis of autistic people’s social communication preferences published in the journal "OSF Preprints" Preprint, 33 pages , doi: 10.31219/osf.io/kn2wr

*One co-author has publicly identified as autistic. [Learn more about this mention]

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Summary/Presentation

 Differences in socialising and communicating between autistic and non-autistic people are well documented, but primarily from the perspective of non-autistic researchers assuming an autistic social communicative deficit. However, recent challenges suggest it may be more accurate to talk about an autistic social communication ‘style’. This qualitative study attempts to better characterise this style, and to understand how differences between it and a non-autistic communicative style might produce communicative misunderstanding. Eight autistic adults (7 women, 1 nonbinary) took part in an online asynchronous focus group over two weeks. They were asked about their social values, their experiences talking to non-autistic people, positive social interactions, and encouraged to comment and feedback on the contributions of others in the group. Thematic analysis produced five themes: 1) truth and honesty, 2) invisible demands and their impacts, 3) empathy and double empathy, 3) autistic strengths and autistic positives, and 5) the role of autistic community. These findings highlight the ways in which autistic people’s different experiences of (and expectations for) social communication can clash with non-autistic people’s, producing disjunctions in understanding, and emphasise the nuance and complexity of participants’ conceptualisations of autism as difference versus deficit versus strength.

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(2) Authors listed in this bibliography whose names are in color have published other resources referenced on the site. Clicking on the name allows you to see the list of resources they have published and shared on the site.

(3) Authors whose names are followed by an asterisk have publicly disclosed being autistic.


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