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The double empathy problem www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy

1094 sats \ 7 comments \ @ek 8h mostly_harmless

According to the theory of the ‘double empathy problem’, these issues are not due to autistic cognition alone, but a breakdown in reciprocity and mutual understanding that can happen between people with very differing ways of experiencing the world. If one has ever experienced a conversation with someone who one does not share a first language with, or even an interest in the topic of a conversation, one may experience something similar (albeit probably briefly).

The double empathy problem is very related to @kepford's post about not being an idiot.

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77 sats \ 1 reply \ @elvismercury 36m

As stated here, I think this is a general state of humankind thing (even beyond humankind actually, the problem is generally information-theoretic).

All people are interpreting all other people according to available schemas and experience and tacit assumptions and can interact based on that shared catalogue - it's just that autistic people violate the schemas most people have on hand.

Are autistic people able to communicate with each other more effectively? If so, is it bc of shared experience, or just because they make no assumption of sharing experience?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @adlai 16m

Are autistic people able to communicate with each other more effectively? If so, is it bc of shared experience, or just because they make no assumption of sharing experience?

It's not a hard rule, although often people at similar levels of the spectrum will get along better than those from different levels. The resulting interaction is a little different from when two normal people with a shared interest connect over it; folks on the spectrum are quite good at "downloading" while the interlocutor "infodumps", and good luck getting a neurotypical to participate in this sort of interaction if they're not making a conscious effort to be polite... ironically enough, this effort is quite similar to how high-functioning autists describe that they can mask their condition and behave normally, although it takes a continued conscious effort.

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 3h

Oh my, I wanted to give this article a serious read but then in the first paragraph it says that the author works at the "Tizard" center! Haha

Anyway, will keep reading

This theory would also suggest that those with similar experiences are more likely to form connections and a level of understanding, which has ramifications in regard to autistic people being able to meet one another.

This paragraph is interesting. Does it suggest that all autistic people experience the world the same way and thus can connect with each other better? Or is it more along the lines of they can connect over their experience of being misunderstood by others?

I have a friend who is going through something like this, where he's constantly accusing everyone of not understanding him. It's kinda tough though, because he wasn't always like this, and he's also really aggressive about it, and it's causing tensions in his marriage and friendships. So we're all wondering what changed and how to help him.

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 4h

This is an interesting statement.

right from the start, from the time someone came up with the word ‘autism’, the condition has been judged from the outside, by its appearances, and not from the inside according to how it is experienced."

(Donna Williams, 1996)

86 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 6h

I think we used to call this culture shock back in the day. But, isn't it true that if we take a step back and put in just a tiny bit of effort to search for similarities instead of differences, they can be found even while experiencing culture shock or the double empathy problem?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 4h

Yes, if people look for differences they will always find them. No matter how slight. We have so much in common. It's not hard to find but many are willfully ignorant of this.

Its no way to live.

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek OP 6h

Mhh, I think culture shock is a specific instance of the double empathy problem