Double Empathy Theory

A notable trait of autism is struggling in social situations. This isn’t always because autistics lack empathy, but can be because there is a heightened sense of empathy.

A problem occurs often when an autistic communicates with an allistic (a non-autistic individual). This is known as the double empathy theory.

Each party has a difficult time understanding how the other communicates. I wish I could say there is an obvious and easy solution to this problem… but there isn’t.

Here is an example of this problem:

Let’s say an allistic is sharing why they had such an awful day and how exhausted they are. Then the autistic starts talking about how if one goose gets hurt and can’t fly with the rest of the flock, some geese will stay with that goose until it’s better. This seems to be completely off-topic to what the first person was talking about and dismisses their struggles. But in reality, the autistic is trying to use something they truly understand to attempt to understand how the allistic is feeling. Both parties have to work hard to understand how the other is communicating.

This is why empathy and taking the time to understand others without automatically assuming the worst is so important.

I hope this made sense!! Come back next week for future blogs!!