The all-autistic groups reported the highest mean-level rapport on three rapport items (Enjoy, Successful, Friendly), with significantly higher rapport than the mixed groups on Enjoy and Friendly. At the individual level, autistic participants expressed more ease and enjoyment when interacting with other autistic adults relative to non-autistic adults, and their rapport declined as more non-autistic participants were included in the group. In contrast, rapport for non-autistic participants remained relatively consistent regardless of group composition. We discuss potential reasons why autistic participants were more affected by group composition than non-autistic participants.
OSF Preprints | Rapport in Same and Mixed Neurotype Groups of Autistic and Non-autistic Adults
Yet another paper showing that groups of autistic people tend to communicate well together and enjoy one another’s company.
100 years of misunderstandings on this, of course, with society primed to imagine we were just rubbish at communicating. The idea that we had a working, functional, joy filled communication system of our own was never considered.
Research has suggested that autistic people enjoy spending time with other autistic people and find them easier to talk to. We wanted to find out what autistic people say about spending time with other autistic people and whether this makes their life better. We found 52 papers which described this and reviewed what they found. We found that many autistic people had positive experiences of spending time with other autistic people and these experiences had positive impact on their lives in a range of different ways.
Studies suggest autistic people experience better rapport (Crompton, Sharp, et al., 2020) and more effective communication (Crompton, Ropar, et al., 2020) when interacting with autistic people rather than non-autistic people. Autistic adolescents are more likely to initiate and reciprocate interactions with autistic than non-autistic peers (Chen et al., 2021).
Studies indicate community contact may benefit QoL for autistic people. Contact with other autistic people provides access to narratives challenging deficit-based perceptions of autistic personhood facilitating positive autistic social identities (Kapp et al., 2013). Increased identification with a positive autistic social identity has been associated with better mental health and may mediate the impact of stigma on well-being (R. Cooper et al., 2021).
Furthermore, successful communication experiences (Crompton, Ropar, et al., 2020) and rapport (Rifai et al., 2022) between autistic people may have a positive impact on QoL (Black et al., 2022). Distinctly autistic social communication styles may facilitate communication and friendships between autistic people (Heasman & Gillespie, 2019), benefitting QoL domains including Social Inclusion and Interpersonal Relations.
Magical Connection
The magic referred to in this theme title reflects the idea something special occurs within autistic-autistic interactions; ‘when two autistic people are together in the same room or even linked by written communication, a certain magic is created, like, electricity in the air’ (Schneid & Raz, 2020, p. 5). This is relevant to Social Inclusion and Interpersonal Relations QoL domains – different aspects of this phenomenon are captured by four subthemes.
One of Us
Being ‘One of us’ reflects a sense of shared identity and belonging within a group expressed across multiple papers. Autistic people recognised themselves in others and shared experiential knowledge, meaning they felt understood and accepted. Schneid and Raz (2020) described how all of their autistic participants ‘said that autists would understand them better’ (p. 5).
Mutual understanding between autistic people created a sense of closeness. Many papers echoed experiences described by Botha and Frost (2020) as ‘The space among autistic people was presented as safe, validating and supportive’ (p. 8). Acceptance and shared understanding with other autistic people were associated with an increased sense of belonging:
As lovely as all my neurotypical friends are, I feel I belong there [with autistic people], and I am like everybody else. I have never had that before . . . I feel like I understand people and they understand me. (Crompton, Ropar, et al., 2020, p. 1444)
This sense of Social Inclusion contrasted with previous experiences of interactions with non-autistic people, with many describing joy on discovering “wow, there are others like me!” (Mattys et al., 2018, p. 328) and a sense of relief: “Finally I’m not alone” (Tan, 2018, p. 166).
Ease of Communication
Many participants said Interpersonal Relations with other autistic people were easier than with non-autistic people. ‘Ease of communication’ was frequently described as speaking the same language: ‘With autistic people, who speak my language . . . it goes fantastically well most of the time’ (Livingston et al., 2019, p. 771). Participants believed ‘communication styles were similar between autistic people, and this made interactions more comfortable that it was easier to follow conversations and understand what people mean’ (Crompton, Hallett, et al., 2020, p. 1443), which meant ‘interactions with autistic people were less effortful and tiring’ (Cummins et al., 2020, p. 684).
Participants emphasised the facilitating role of acceptance: ‘Being in these comfortable and accepting environments ‘allows [them] to relax [and] be able to communicate effectively and honestly’’ (Howard & Sedgewick, 2021, p. 2272).
Autistic individuals seem to find it easier to communicate with other autistic people, and they identify specific characteristics of neurotypical communication that hinder successful communication. Moreover, neurotypical people are perceived as having difficulties in autistic ToM, which seems to emerge as a relevant and needed construct in light of the Double Empathy problem.
The all-autistic groups did not differ on overall rapport from the all-non-autistic groups and had significantly higher rapport on two items (enjoying the interaction and friendliness of the group) than both types of mixed groups. At the individual level, autistic participants expressed more ease and enjoyment when interacting with other autistic adults relative to non-autistic adults, and their rapport declined as more non-autistic participants were included in the group. In contrast, rapport for non-autistic participants remained relatively consistent regardless of group composition. We discuss potential reasons why autistic participants were more affected by group composition than non-autistic participants.
The groups of all-autistic participants expressed that their interactions were more enjoyable and friendly than the mixed groups. Autistic participants reported lower rapport when interacting with non-autistic adults, while non-autistic participants reported similar rapport whether interacting with autistic or non-autistic group members. Overall, findings are not consistent with a social deficit model of autism, as autistic adults often established rapport with partners in a group setting. Their level of rapport, however, depended strongly on the social context, particularly whether other autistic people were also in the group.
Building Friendships
We found that differences in social communication (particularly, eye contact and facial expressions) led to better first impressions as rated by peers with autism spectrum disorder. These results suggest that differences in social communication may not simply be a deficit for youth; rather they may actually help build friendships among peers with autism spectrum disorder. This is important because current social skills interventions generally aim to reduce social communication differences, which may have negative consequences for friendships between peers with autism spectrum disorder.
Findings suggest that, contrary to typically developing individuals, several forms of atypical communication among youth with autism spectrum disorder are associated with more positive first impressions by others with autism spectrum disorder. This suggests that interventions designed to increase friendships among youth with autism spectrum disorder may benefit from reframing their approach to addressing atypical social communication.
Autistic Language Hypothesis
The Autistic language hypothesis (ALH) is a new alternative approach to autistic communication. Framing autistic verbal language as different, not disordered compared to allistic people (non-autistic).
The hypothesis takes a Neurodiversity affirming approach to autistic verbal communication. The neurodiversity movement views autistic people and other neurodivergence such as ADHD as natural variations in human neurology
Viewing autistic verbal communication through a neurodiversity lens, autistic communication is a natural divergence or variation in human communication. The ALH argues autistic verbal communication is functional and effective but different to allistic (non-autistic) communication.
Autistic neurology, behaviour, and communication are currently pathologized under the medical model. Framing autistic people as disordered and exhibiting ‘deficits’ compared to non-autistic people. This approach has been damaging to #ActuallyAutisticPeople and has perpetuated stigma, discrimination and harmful stereotypes.
The ALH builds upon the work of Damian Milton and the brilliant Double Empathy Problem. Milton proposed that when people interact and they have very different experiences of the world, they will struggle to empathise with one another. This mismatch in empathy can lead to communicative difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people.
In a similar vein to the Double Empathy Problem the Autistic Language Hypothesis frames autistic verbal communication as different not disordered. The ALH argues autistic people have a unique and effective way of communicating. However this has been deeply misunderstood by researchers taking a ‘outside looking in’ approach.
Cullen Consultancy on autistic experience
To further explain the double empathy problem, Rachel Cullen has devised a theory that Autistic people speak a different language to non-Autistic people. This further disproves that Autistic communication and socialisation is ‘deficit’ or a ‘disorder’, it is simply different, as well as explaining Autistic need for literal language. See also Double empathy problem.
Resources/books/articles – Aucademy
What if pragmatic and other language differences found in autistic people are linguistic markers for a different but functional pragmatic system?
A functional way of using and interpreting language unique to autistic people?
The Autistic communication hypothesis: Rachel Cullen educates Annette & Chloe of Aucademy 23.10.2021 – YouTube
Rapport and the Double Empathy Problem (DEP)
Rapport is characterized by mutual feelings of positivity, attentiveness, affinity, and harmony within social interactions (Bernieri, 2014; Tickle-Degnen, & Rosenthal, 1990), and it facilitates social connection and the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships (Cappella, 1990). Relevant to the DEP, rapport is defined interpersonally rather than individually (Bernieri, 2014) and is often more readily established between members of a shared social or identity group relative to out-group members (Miles et al., 2011). Research comparing matched and mixed neurotype dyads of autistic and non-autistic participants indicates that rapport is selectively reduced in mixed interactions, with autistic participants establishing higher rapport with autistic partners (Crompton, Sharp, et al., 2020)
In contrast to a social deficit model of autism, autistic adults reported high rapport when in groups with other autistic adults. In fact, the all-autistic groups reported significantly higher levels of enjoyment and friendliness than the mixed groups and generally provided the highest rapport scores of any group type. It may be the case that group composition more directly affected rapport ratings of enjoyment and friendliness than ratings of “easy” and “successful” because the former may relate more to perceptions of interpersonal positivity whereas the latter may be more dependent on task success. Regardless, these findings align with the DEP (Milton, 2012) and other recent studies demonstrating that autistic adults often experience enhanced social experiences with one another (Crompton, Hallett, et al., 2020; Crompton, Sharp, et al., 2020; Crompton, Ropar, et al., 2020; Crompton et al., 2023; Morrison et al., 2020; Rifai et al., 2022), extending these results to group contexts.
Consistent with our hypotheses, rapport for autistic adults was the highest in the company of other autistic participants and declined when in the company of non-autistic group members. Differences in thinking, communication, and collaborative preferences between autistic and non-autistic participants may have negatively affected rapport ratings for autistic participants in the mixed groups. Autistic people can struggle to connect with non-autistic people and often adopt conscious and unconscious masking strategies to fit in non-autistic spaces (Pearson & Rose, 2021). Masking requires significant cognitive resources (Hull et al., 2017) that may have been particularly taxed in group settings given the heightened group demands and potential need to interact with several non-autistic partners at once. In addition, because participants were informed of the diagnostic composition of their group prior to beginning the interaction, autistic participants may have felt reduced pressure to mask in all-autistic groups but increased pressure in mixed groups, affecting their feelings of rapport and connection with group members.
Autistic participants benefited from interacting with group members that shared an autism diagnosis and were more sensitive to group composition compared to non-autistic participants, who displayed more consistent rapport ratings regardless of group composition. Overall, these findings largely align with the DEP in group contexts and may serve as the foundation for future research. This information may also be explored in applied settings where group work is common (e.g. education) to promote more inclusive environments for autistic people.
Resources
- Atypical social communication is associated with positive initial impressions among peers with autism spectrum disorder – Jessica E Granieri, Morgan L McNair, Alan H Gerber, Rebecca F Reifler, Matthew D Lerner, 2020
- OSF Preprints | Rapport in Same and Mixed Neurotype Groups of Autistic and Non-autistic Adults
- Efficiency during information transfer between autistic and neurotypical people
