10 Significant Ways Autistic People are Different to Neurotypical People
It turns out we see the world through a very different lens.
*Disclaimer*: I want to make it clear that I don’t speak for all autistic people, or for all neurotypical people either. The purpose of this post is primarily to illustrate what our “cultural” differences are, roughly speaking.
When you Google what makes autistic people different to neurotypical (NT) people, you’ll most likely either read scientific research, or you’ll come across a vague article which lists out general traits but doesn’t give a clear, overall picture.
And unless you’re specifically looking, you don’t always come across anything written by autistic people. Reading autistic perspectives on this subject is just as important because the narrative needs to be rewritten. Just ask ChatGPT, for instance, and you’ll get a glimpse into how autistic people are infantilised — and, worse — patronised for our differences.
This is what’s known as the ‘double empathy’ problem — it suggests that when people with very different experiences of the world interact with one another, they will struggle to empathise with each other. Yet, somehow, we need to find a way to bridge the gap between neurotypical and autistic culture as that will lead to increased understanding on both sides.
