The Humor of the “Humorless”
In 1944, Hans Asperger described the abnormal children he was studying. He called them “humorless,” saying that that lack of understanding was one of their essential traits. Furthermore, he extrapolated that their “humorlessness” was a threat to society: The basis of “genuine humor,” according to him, was understanding the world in a “peaceful” way, and since these “autistic psychopaths” do not understand humor, they do not understand peace.
While most people would not describe Autistic people with such strongly ableist and fear-mongering language nowadays, I think the root of Hans Asperger’s observations of Autistic people remains largely unchallenged: that Autistic people are incapable of communicating in normative ways, including humor. However, what is considered “normative” is not decided by Autistic people, and “normative” is not a value statement but a declaration of popularity. Since Hans Asperger’s research, autism research has sought to understand how Autistic people do communicate, and I think the most interesting result of this research came out of the early 2010s: the “double empathy problem.”
The National Autistic Society, an organization based in the United Kingdom, describes the double empathy problem like this:
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).
In summary, the “double empathy problem” turns the entire diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder on its head. One of the primary characteristics of autism, according to the DSM, is difficulty communicating. If we are to understand that difficulty communicating is something that all people have, regardless of their neurotype, simply because of their different experiences (as opposed to some “deficit”), then one of the way primary ways that Autistic people are “disabled” is, in fact, because of the lack of attention the majority allistic (not Autistic) population gives to communicating with Autistic people.
How does that circle back to my book All Ways? Well, my Autistic protagonists, York and Andreas, communicate both with each other and with neurotypical characters. How well the brothers understand each other is established early on, so scenes where they misunderstand neurotypical characters can be understood not because the brothers are incapable of communicating effectively but because York and Andreas experience the world so differently than the neurotypical characters they encounter.
And on a simpler level, All Ways busts the myth that Autistic people can’t be funny. A combination of observational humor…
“Well, if you’re done experimenting with my name, what can I get for you?” Everything Mickey has said has been in the form of a long, sighing exhale.
and humor of misunderstanding….
She explains the basket of flowers to him. “These here are lilies. They represent innocence, like Adam and Eve, God rest their souls!” Andreas is sorry for her loss. Losing one friend is hard enough, never mind two.
humanizes Autistic people as not only capable of humor but, in fact, also capable of engaging with their surroundings. In other words, through the use of humor, I break down “Autistic” as an “othering” category, exhibiting how Autistic people are not different from neurotypical people at all.
Additionally, the use of humor to balance out depictions of dark themes (like death, in the second example) helps avoid the issue of “emotional burnout.” By maintaining moments of levity, even in disturbing revelations, I invite the reader not to get exhausted but continue caring. The purpose of All Ways, first and foremost, is to elicit empathy: for its protagonists as well as the oft-maligned Autistic community as a whole.
People fear the unknown, and early research about autism depicts the Autistic brain as a kind of “void” that is impenetrable to “normal” minds. That image of an Autistic person is not only frightening but threatening. However, the truth is that villainization perpetrated by in-power groups is the most threatening thing of all to a minority group. The depiction of a group as threatening allows discrimination, from lack of healthcare to hate-motivated violence, to be legitimized.
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