Summary

The article challenges the stereotype that autistic individuals are emotionally detached, emphasizing the complexity of emotional experience in autism, the influence of neuronormative expectations, and the impact of alexithymia across various neurotypes.

Abstract

The article "Autistic People Are Not Emotionless Robots" delves into the misconception that autistic people lack emotions, a notion rooted in the concept of alexithymia—difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions. It clarifies that while some autistic individuals may struggle with emotional recognition, they can experience emotions intensely. The piece highlights that alexithymia is not exclusive to autism, as it is also observed in other neurotypes, such as those with Borderline Personality Disorder, OCD, and PTSD. The author, referencing Dr. Devon Price and Dr. Nick Walker, criticizes the neuronormative lens through which emotions are often taught and understood, suggesting that this approach may not align with the lived experiences of autistic individuals. The article also discusses the Double Empathy Problem, which posits that both autistic and non-autistic individuals face challenges in understanding each other's emotional expressions. It advocates for recognizing these differences as cultural variations rather than deficiencies. Furthermore, the article touches on the theory of secondary alexithymia related to trauma and stresses the importance of clear communication and mutual understanding to bridge emotional gaps.

Opinions

Autistic individuals are often wrongly stereotyped as unemotional due to alexithymia, which is a separate issue from autism itself.
The author argues that autistic people can experience emotions very intensely, contrary to the stereotype.
Alexithymia is a condition that can affect various neurotypes, not just autistic individuals.
The article suggests that teaching emotional understanding through a neuronormative perspective may not be effective for autistic individuals.
Dr. Devon Price is cited explaining that autistic individuals may struggle to understand the cause of their emotions rather than the emotions themselves.
Dr. Nick Walker's concept of neuronormativity is used to critique the societal norms that prioritize non-autistic ways of thinking and behaving.
The Double Empathy Problem is introduced as a framework to understand the mutual misunderstanding between autistic and non-autistic individuals.
Emotional differences between neurotypes are framed as cultural differences rather than deficits.
The author criticizes the societal expectation for autistic individuals to suppress their emotions to conform to neurotypical standards.
There is a call for society to accommodate neurodiversity and stop policing the emotional expressions of autistic and neurodivergent individuals.
The article references the theory of secondary alexithymia, which links emotional repression to trauma, relevant to the high rates of trauma experienced by autistic adults.
The author emphasizes the need for mutual understanding and clear communication to reduce miscommunications due to differing expectations and interpretations of emotions.

Autistic People Are Not Emotionless Robots

Untangling and explaining alexithymia

Alexithymia refers to difficulty feeling, identifying, or recognizing emotions in oneself, and accurately identifying emotions in others.

This pathologization has been used to stereotype Autistic people as “unfeeling”, lacking in emotions, and unable to read the emotions of others. This is a gross oversimplification that is harmful to many Autistic people.

While some Autistics may struggle to experience or identify emotions in the way that allistics (non-autistic people) do, that does not mean we do not feel emotions, not even close.

In fact, a lot of Autistics experience emotions very intensely, and those who do struggle to recognize and name emotions are not always Autistic.

Alexithymia has been described in other neurotypes as well, including people with Borderline Personality (BPD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), major depression (MD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to name a few.

As Dr. Devon Price explained in his recent book, Unmasking Autism, many Autistics struggle to figure out why we’re feeling emotions.

For some it’s not identifying what emotion we’re feeling, it’s noticing that we’re feeling something before we’re already carried away by it.

“When we’re upset or uncomfortable, we often fail to recognize it until we’re nearly on the verge of a complete meltdown.” — Dr. Devon Price

This can be due, in part, to challenges with interoception, which hinder our ability to perceive and recognize the physical indications of our emotions.

Neuronormative concepts

Another possibility is that emotions, their sensations, and their external expressions are described and taught to us through a neuronormative lens.

Dr. Walker defines neuronormativity as the following:

“The performance of the local dominant culture’s current prevailing images of how a so-called “normal” person with a so-called “normal” mind thinks and looks and behaves.” — Dr. Nick Walker

Social-emotional lessons at school, and learned cultural norms and expectations are based on what non-autistic people experience, perceive, and deem “normal”.

Except what we know about autism is Autistics have a significantly different sensory experience from allistics. Our bodies and brains perceive and experience the sensory world much differently from those of non-autistic people.

As Dr. Walker explains,

“[We live in] a society designed around the sensory, cognitive, developmental, and social needs of non-autistic individuals.” — Dr. Nick Walker

If Autistic children are taught social-emotional curricula by neurotypical teachers and are socialized with neurotypical cultural and social norms, what they’re told emotions are “supposed” to look and feel like may not line up with their lived experiences.

When they are asked to name what they are feeling, or interpret the emotions a neurotypical person is conveying, they might misunderstand or misinterpret because they’ve never been taught what those emotions feel like from the perspective of an Autistic person.

This is a lack of information and self-knowledge, not a lack of emotions.

In that vein, Dr. Price further explains in his book that we are literally conditioned to disregard, ignore, and suppress our emotions and responses so as to “appear neurotypical”.

Many Autistics are even taught specifically how to read and interpret neurotypical emotional expressions so we can be more aware, mindful, and “considerate” of their feelings.

“Autistics aren’t given the tools to understand how emotions feel in our bodies, and because we are taught to prioritize others’ feelings above our own.” — Dr. Devon Price

To my knowledge, there aren’t many social skills programs teaching neurotypical people how to better identify, interpret, and understand Autistic emotional expressions.

Neuronormative attitudes

Along similar lines, there’s also the idea that the neurotypical way of doing — well, anything — is superior to all other ways of doing things. We do this with essentially any majority: linguistic, ethnic, cultural, etc., but it is becoming less socially acceptable to do so.

Not so with autism. There’s an assumption that because we interpret, express, and experience emotions differently from allistics, we’re somehow deficient. It’s literally written this way in the DSM-V:

“Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity… reduced sharing of emotions or affect… failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.” — DSM-V

This is an ableist assumption.

Autistic scholars have instead described what is known as the Double Empathy Problem, which emphasizes the fact that both autistics and allistics struggle to understand each other’s thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and differences.

Based on work by Damian Milton — (image created by author)

Cultural differences

It’s more accurate and inclusive to conceptualize this as a cultural difference.

Different cultures have different social expectations for how people express their feelings, just as allistics and autistics have different ideas about how one ought to express and interpret emotions.

Our world is made up of many different neurotypes with endless varieties of communication, sensory, and processing styles. Because one is more prevalent than others does not mean it is better.

It’s important to keep in mind that many social norms are painfully arbitrary and change over time.

Rather than making assumptions based on stereotypes, we need to understand miscommunications happen because of differences in expectations and interpretations.

We can reduce these instances by checking in with one another, clarifying intentions and meaning, and by ensuring our communication is as clear and effective as possible.

Trauma, PTSD, and alexithymia

Another theory about alexithymia was termed “secondary” alexithymia by Dr. Peter Sifneos in 1972. He posited severe trauma prompted the overuse of defense mechanisms such as repression of one’s emotions.

This theory was based purely on Dr. Sifneos’ clinical experience and has not been empirically validated, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Given that as many as 60% of Autistic adults have experienced trauma, this correlation makes sense.

It’s as though we can’t win with neurotypicals. If we have intense emotions and are very expressive, we’re “too much”. Shouldn’t stim in public. Tone it down, calm down, settle down. Yet if we don’t express enough emotions, we’re alexithymic automatons.

Instead of having all these rules about how many emotions people are permitted to display, why don’t we just — Oh wait, I do have a permit!

Parks & Rec, by Michael Schur — (image created by author)

Dear society, stop policing Autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled humans and start making space for people to be different.

Thanks.

Autistic People Are Not Emotionless Robots

Untangling and explaining alexithymia

Neuronormative concepts

Neuronormative attitudes

Cultural differences

Trauma, PTSD, and alexithymia

Related Stories

Recognizing How Emotions Feel Physically In Our Bodies

Interoception & Emotion Regulation: What one has to do with the other, and why they’re important

Defining Neurotypical Privilege

Why language and perspective are so important

The Social Model of Disability

How this aligns with the neurodiversity paradigm

References