Cross-neurotype communication from an autistic point of view: insights on autistic Theory of Mind from a focus group study

Background. The conceptualization of autism as a disorder where Theory of Mind (ToM) and pragmatics are fundamentally impaired has prompted a wealth of research on autistic deficits, most of which is characterized by two main assumptions: first, that autistic people would display said deficits, if present, with any conversation partner and in any situation; second, that neurotypical people do not present these deficits, regardless of the conversation partner. However, this is not necessarily reflected in autistic accounts of the way they experience social cognition and pragmatics.Aims. The present paper aims at investigating the autistic experience of communication with both autistic and neurotypical people, with a particular focus on their perception of the ability of autistic and neurotypical people to understand their communicative intentions.Methods & Procedures. Participants, 23 adult Italian autistic people without intellectual disability nor language disorders, were recruited online. Two virtual focus groups of 2 hours each were conducted, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis with a descriptive phenomenological approach by 2 independent researchers.Outcomes & Results. Six themes emerged from the analysis, the most relevant being Autistic-Autistic communication and Autistic ToM. In line with the Double Empathy theory, there seem to be important differences between neurotypical and autistic people’s ToM. These appear to make it easier for autistic people to communicate with one another, and to create difficulties for neurotypical people to understand autistic people as well.Conclusions & Implications. These results seem to confirm that challenges in cross-neurotype communication are better interpreted as mutual miscomprehension and reciprocal differences in ToM rather than deficits on the autistic part. This calls for a reframing of ToM and/or the need for autistic ToM as a construct, of which neurotypical people seem to be lacking. Moreover, these insights should be taken into account for clinical practice, advocating for a neurodiversity-informed view of co-constructed communication as well as for a broader societal change in which therapists can play a crucial role, through participatory approaches or raising awareness in their daily practice.