what kind of autism research would you do?

There is brand new research showing that  AS/AS work well together, exchange information, as well as NT/NT, but ASC/NT do  not work as well. Basically a qualitative confirmation of double empathy problem and prediction that autistic people would interact well.

http://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/nd-iq/

What would be interesting is to see exactly which signals are malfunctioning in AS/NT. Which signals they both miss and how to tune into them.

It would also be interesting to know what triggers bullying, in terms of those signals, what signals do people pick up and react to when they start bullying autistic people. This not necessarily uniquely in relation to autistic people. Just human condition - spell it out.

Thanks for sharing this new research, Tinyexplorer! This does sound interesting. I have been wondering for quite a while whether AS/AS work well together or not. On the one hand, AS/AS might understand each other's difficulties better, or have shared common interests on some topic; on the other hand, since AS sometimes have trouble with cognitive empathy, or just have different traits (e.g., different sensory requirements), they might have more trouble in understanding each other. I started a thread a short while back on a hypothetical question "what if everyone in the world had Aspergers": https://community.autism.org.uk/f/miscellaneous-and-chat/15041/what-if-everyone-in-the-world-had-aspergers There are some interesting comments by many people.

Thanks for sharing the link about the DART project! It's really interesting that they've found that information sharing in AS/NT is lower than AS/AS and NT/NT. I really like the idea, and it's very new and interesting. 

I also agree it would be very interesting to see exactly which signals are malfunctioning in AS/NT. Which signals they both miss and how to tune into them. There's some really interesting work in Princeton looking at how synchronised two brains are when e.g., they are watching the same movie, or communicating in a speaker-listener relationship: https://www.hassonlab.com/brain-to-brain-communication I think they've mostly just used NT/NT interactions, but I think it would be interesting to compare AS/AS, NT/NT, and AS/NT. Not really sure what will come out, but maybe it will shed some insight into how people exchange information and what signals are malfunctioning in AS/NT. 

It's really nice to read your post and hearing your insights! You seem very knowledgable

Thanks for sharing this new research, Tinyexplorer! This does sound interesting. I have been wondering for quite a while whether AS/AS work well together or not. On the one hand, AS/AS might understand each other's difficulties better, or have shared common interests on some topic; on the other hand, since AS sometimes have trouble with cognitive empathy, or just have different traits (e.g., different sensory requirements), they might have more trouble in understanding each other. I started a thread a short while back on a hypothetical question "what if everyone in the world had Aspergers": https://community.autism.org.uk/f/miscellaneous-and-chat/15041/what-if-everyone-in-the-world-had-aspergers There are some interesting comments by many people.

Thanks for sharing the link about the DART project! It's really interesting that they've found that information sharing in AS/NT is lower than AS/AS and NT/NT. I really like the idea, and it's very new and interesting. 

I also agree it would be very interesting to see exactly which signals are malfunctioning in AS/NT. Which signals they both miss and how to tune into them. There's some really interesting work in Princeton looking at how synchronised two brains are when e.g., they are watching the same movie, or communicating in a speaker-listener relationship: https://www.hassonlab.com/brain-to-brain-communication I think they've mostly just used NT/NT interactions, but I think it would be interesting to compare AS/AS, NT/NT, and AS/NT. Not really sure what will come out, but maybe it will shed some insight into how people exchange information and what signals are malfunctioning in AS/NT. 

It's really nice to read your post and hearing your insights! You seem very knowledgable

Yes, I really like this research, and the way it tested the double empathy model. The finding that AS/AS empathise with one another equally well compared to NT/NT is a very important one as it enhances our knowledge of these interactions, and how empathy works among AS and NT people. 

The statement from Damian Milton is interesting. If AS/AS communicates as well as AS/NT, then the social deficit that arises from AS/NT is really mind blindness on both sides, instead of from AS. It's an interesting idea. I guess that explains why people on these forums can often find so much in common and sympathise with each other.

I think it's amazing that you are keeping up with a lot of recent literature on social aspects of autism. And many thanks for sharing these. The research is definitely interesting. I also read spectrumnews sometimes as well when I'm not busy. A lot of the articles are quite insightful

Thank you Qwerty for your comments. I am just me:). Your thread is very interesting indeed. 

qwerty said:

on the other hand, since AS sometimes have trouble with cognitive empathy, or just have different traits (e.g., different sensory requirements), they might have more trouble

I think the double empathy model and this research to some extent basically bust the idea of low empathy, cognitive or not. Basically AS/AS empathise with one another equally well compared to  NT/NT .

A lot of autistic people comment that NT do not empathise well if at all with autistic people. Their empathy is not in evidence. It is just assumed and perpetuated as the stereotype about autism.

I read this recently:

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/me-and-monotropism-unified-theory-autism

'As someone on the spectrum myself, I dislike the pathologizing, deficit-based framing of the best-known theories of autism, and I hate the mistakes they lead to in practice: assuming we lack empathy and have no idea what’s going on in anyone else’s head; painting autistic cognition as inherently more ‘male’; expecting skills we’re slow to pick up as kids to be lacking throughout our lives.'

And this:

https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/search-truce-autism-wars/?utm_source=Copy+of+Spectrum+News+%28Daily+Report%29&utm_campaign=ab58a23ba1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_23_09_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5d6f652fd5-ab58a23ba1-168411017

'[In relation to] ‘mindblindness’, ...

Here again, we see an external observation of autism, judged against neurotypical norms. Look online, in Facebook groups or under Twitter hashtags such as #actuallyautistic, and you will see social life flourishing – reciprocal, empathetic, intuitive, and ringing with emotion. You’ll find mutual support and jokes; heated debates and silly internet memes. There’s no denying that a lot of the chat centres on the pressures of everyday social life, but there’s also no mistaking that the capacity is there. The priorities are different, that’s all, and there’s a greater understanding of the need to sometimes retreat, process or ask questions. The advent of social media has transformed the ability of autistic people to seek out kindred spirits, control the tone and content of their discourse, and combat the loneliness that so many report. But it also reveals something that many neurotypical people have so far been unable to perceive.

The sociologist Damian Milton at the University of Kent argues that mindblindness goes both ways. If we see social situations as dynamically constructed between the participants, rather than defined by static, universal rules, it is impossible for one person to have a social ‘deficit’; the failure lies in the mutual creation of a social reality. Therefore, when communication fails between autistic and nonautistic people, we must surely consider whether the mindblindness is mutual. Milton calls this the ‘double empathy problem’: neither party is able to interpret the gestures, tone or pace of the other’s conversation, and so both participants leave with a sense of ‘otherness’. However, because autistic people are in a minority, in mainstream discourse – including the language of respected tomes such as the DSM – neurotypical mindblindness is invisible.'