The Core of the Double Empathy Problem

"Autistic people lack empathy." If you're Autistic, you've probably heard it more times than you can count.

In reality, many of us experience empathy so intensely it's almost disabling. What's different is how we relate to the world, to ourselves and to emotions, because our experience of the world is fundamentally different from non-Autistic people's.

That's the root of the double empathy problem. It isn't only Autistic people who struggle to understand non-Autistic people; it works both ways. And it goes further than that. As individuals, we can only ever have a hypothetical understanding of someone else's experience. We can observe it from the outside, but we never actually get to feel it.

So believe people when they tell you about their experience. Whether or not it's real to you, it's real to them.

Want to go deeper with Autistic-led learning and community? Head to the link in our channel bio.

#ActuallyAutistic #DoubleEmpathy #Neurodivergent