Background: Microaggressions—subtle insults, invalidations, or slights directed at marginalized groups—negatively affect mental health and identity. However, little is known about how autistic people experience microaggressions across their daily lives in Japan. To the beast of our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study examining how Japanese autistic people experience microaggressions related to or attributed to their autism. Methods: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey in March 2023. A total of 330 autistic individuals (aged 18–39 years) responded to two open-ended questions about direct and indirect microaggressions in their daily lives. We analyzed 288 microaggressive experiences related to or attributed to participants’ autism using codebook thematic analysis. Three researchers generated the initial codes and preliminary themes, which the full team then refined through iterative discussion. Results: We identified four themes describing how autistic people in Japan encounter microaggressions in their daily lives. Theme 1: Living with fluctuating standpoints reflects how others position autistic people as either inferior or unrealistically gifted. Theme 2: Living with autism as a symbol of inferiority captures how the term “autism” functions as a metaphor for inadequacy. Theme 3: Living with no safe space highlights repeated invalidation across family, school, workplace, and professional contexts. Theme 4: Living with pressure from social demands shows how cultural norms and institutional structures pressure autistic people to camouflage their characters and conform to neurotypical expectations. Conclusions: Japanese autistic people experience microaggressions that arise from ableist assumptions embedded in interpersonal, linguistic, cultural, and institutional environments. These experiences contribute to stigma, camouflaging, and reduced access to affirming spaces. Future research must incorporate autistic perspectives throughout the research process and examine intersectional and cross-cultural dimensions to promote more equitable social environments.
Kato et al. (Sat,) studied this question.