New Delhi– A new study published Wednesday challenges longstanding stereotypes about autism, finding no significant difference in how effectively autistic and non-autistic individuals communicate. The research debunks the common misconception that autistic people inherently struggle to connect with others.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and published in Nature Human Behaviour, the study suggests that social difficulties often experienced by autistic individuals stem more from differences in communication styles than from a lack of social ability.
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that influences how people perceive and interact with the world around them. While it’s often framed in terms of impairment, the study emphasizes the need to shift focus toward understanding divergent—but equally effective—communication methods.
The research involved 311 participants—autistic, non-autistic, and mixed groups—engaged in a storytelling task. The first participant heard a story from a researcher and then passed it on to the next person in the group. Each participant had to recall and relay the story, with the final person in the chain recounting it aloud.
Researchers scored the amount of information successfully transmitted at each stage and found no meaningful differences across the autistic, non-autistic, or mixed groups. In other words, communication was equally effective regardless of neurotype.
The study also found that people tended to prefer interacting with others who shared their neurotype: non-autistic individuals felt more at ease with fellow non-autistic peers, while autistic participants preferred learning from other autistic individuals. This pattern likely reflects differing but compatible communication styles, researchers noted.
“Autism has often been associated with social impairments, both colloquially and in clinical settings,” said Dr. Catherine Crompton, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences. “Researchers have spent years trying to ‘fix’ autistic communication. But our findings show that while autistic and non-autistic people may communicate differently, their ability to do so is just as effective.”
Crompton added that breaking down misconceptions about autistic communication could lead to more inclusive environments and improved social opportunities for autistic individuals. “This research can help bridge the communication gap and create spaces where everyone feels understood and valued,” she said. (Source: IANS)
