Autistic Culture and the Helping Professions

How cultural competencies are highly relevant to supporting Autistics and other neurodivergent folks

Autistic culture

Each person’s definition of their own culture will be different. Broadly speaking, culture can be defined as, “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group”.

Autistic culture can include — but is not limited to — shared vocabulary and experiences, social expectations & norms unique to Autistics, and specific strengths associated with being Autistic.

Part two

In this article series, I expand on each of the barriers to culturally competent practice listed below. I outline how these barriers also apply to schools, community and social services, and other support services for neurodivergent students and clients.

My follow-up articles will then address the Multicultural Counselling Competencies (MCCs) and how they can be applied to more effectively supporting and respecting the differences of neurodivergent people.

This is the second article in a multi-part series. If you missed part one, you can read it here.

Barriers to culturally competent practice

1. Ignorance regarding the underlying philosophical, structural, and technological alterations that are necessary;
2. Reluctance to develop from a “one-size-fits-all” approach (in terms of out-dated pedagogy, as well as inflexible institutional policies);
3. Failure to recognize, accept, and honour cultural (and neurological) diversity;
4. Lack of self-awareness regarding how one’s socialization impacts their practice;
5. Failure of training programs to prepare staff to adequately and competently support Autistics;
6. Lack of willingness to learn from, and listen to, Autistic people and their loved ones

This article focuses on point number four.

Lack of self-awareness regarding how socialization impacts practice

Being in the majority gives people the impression that their ways are the “correct” ways, and other ways are abnormal. The default assumption is that people are neurotypical (NT, or not neurodivergent), and that is also assumed to be the superior neurotype.

As a result, many behaviours and experiences are pathologized simply because they’re not the way people in the statistical ‘norm’ do things. For example, stimming. Stimming is self-stimulatory behaviour in which everyone engages, such as biting one’s nails or tapping one’s toes. Autistics often stim in ways that are more overt and obvious by comparison, such as flapping our hands or arms, rocking, tapping, or jumping.

If the behaviour is not harmful to anyone, why would it be considered disordered? The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines pathology as, “any departure from what is considered healthy or adaptive”.

Stimming is a highly effective self-regulation tool, meaning it can be both healthy and adaptive.

When people pace back and forth because they’re upset or anxious, they are engaging in a stim behaviour to help regulate their nervous system. When a person goes for a run because they’re angry or stressed, they are engaging in physical activity to help self-regulate.

When an Autistic person feels overwhelmed by an environment, we may flap our hands or tap our bodies. This isn’t meaningless behaviour, not in the least. Stimming helps us to calm down and express any type of emotion. Stimming can be a signal that something is wrong, but it can also be a signal that someone is happy or excited.

This is just one example of the many ways in which unusual or atypical behaviours are pathologized and assumed to be indicative of disorder simply because they’re outside what’s common amongst those in the statistical ‘norm’.

Think about it

In Canada and some other parts of the world, it is common practice to remove one’s shoes when entering a household. Having grown up in Canada, I assumed this was “normal” everywhere. It’s not. There are some places where it’s considered rude to ask guests to remove their shoes, and others where it’s considered rude to enter a home wearing them.

When we travel to other countries (if we’re respectful), we see differences like these as cultural. We appreciate that different places have different customs, one is not necessarily better than the other, they’re just different.

Imagine if I travelled to another part of the world and took my shoes off before entering someone’s home, and they’d never seen someone do that before.

Should this be considered pathological? Do I need behaviour training to teach and compel me to keep my shoes on? Or might we consider that my own experiences and socialization have ingrained this social mandate into my brain, making it difficult for me to change?

This is exactly what we do to Autistics. Make eye contact. Stop fidgeting. Don’t be so blunt. Stop asking so many questions. Stop talking about your special interest. You have to learn and adapt in order to “function” in society! (That’s mostly a lie, by the way).

If we zoomed out and looked at things through a multicultural lens, we could see that these are simply cultural differences, not disordered behaviour. There are many cultures in which it’s rude to make direct eye contact. Some cultural communication styles are considered more blunt and direct, whereas others are considered more subtle.

One isn’t necessarily better than the other, they’re just different.

Differences are not deficits.

© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB

Part four

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References

Charlton, R. A., Entecott, T., Belova, E., Nwaordu, G. (2021). “It feels like holding back something you need to say”: Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults accounts of sensory experiences and stimming. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 89, 101864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2021.101864

Kapp, S. K., Steward, R., Crane, L., Elliott, D., Elphick, C., Pellicano, E., & Russell, G. (2019). ‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23(7), 1782–1792. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319829628

Shebib, B. (2023). Choices: Interviewing and counselling skills for Canadians (8th ed.). Pearson Canada.

Waltz, M. (2020). The production of the ‘normal’ child: Neurodiversity and the commodification of parenting. In Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Chown, N., & Stenning, A. (Eds). Neurodiversity Studies: A new critical paradigm. Routledge.