Preferred fonts for autism

Hi Oakling, you’ve expressed a very important point “my autistic desire for the ‘correct’ font get in the way”. I feel exactly the same but you have articulated it in a way I could not. So thank you.

Thank you bees. I really appreciate your openness and honesty regarding your feelings about infantilisation.  

I always use Times Roman when I am allowed to. I like serifs, they are a reminder of when people wrote with pens, or carved with chisels, I reminder of when eye, hand and brain needed skills.

I’m pretty much stuck on using Calibri at this point. It has been the default for me now for so long that when writing, nothing else looks ‘right’ to me. As someone who is dyslexic too, Comic Sans is supposed to be quite easy to read, but I find that my autistic desire for the ‘correct’ font gets in the way of me concentrating on what is written sometimes. I must say though, none of these are particularly strong opinions of mine, just some general thoughts on the matter.

Comic Sans is like the "unironic" meme joke font at this point, however I have never personally had an issue with it, nor had an issue with Arial, Calibri, or Courier (arguably much better fonts visually for neurodiverse folks) and I find that they convey a lot more respect in the public view since Comic Sans has become almost synonymous with primary school ADHD/Dyslexic accessible text (not that there is anything wrong with that but the ableism or rather ageisms that comes with "demonising" it feels inescapable at this point and needs to be addressed).

I love this answer TriS

Thank you Desmond79. Really informative. I agree the Comic Sans font is childish and although sometimes useful, it’s quite infantile and as an adult I don’t enjoy reading, using or being provided with childish fonts.

Thank you Sparkly for this brilliant answer. It’s so explanatory and illustrative. I like fonts that are old and look artistic and pointy. You’re so right that personality is very important how we individually respond and experience words and fonts. 

I never really understood why a lot of people feel so strongly about Comic Sans. It's not my preference, but I find it hard to care much about fonts. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Comic Sans went on an arson spree of historic orphanages with the reaction it gets.

You can probably guess that my preferred font is whatever is default in whatever I'm using.

Never use Comic Sans when doing Graphic Design. There a window frame maker in my village, and his logo is in Comic Sans. Visible on his delivery van. It just look childish.

Dyslexic kids, apparently, read better with Comic Sans. But, as I insinuated, it's for schools.

Calibri, and Cambria, are built-in typefaces on Windows. To get them, free, on Mac and Linux is a tough call. But it can be done. Depends on avoiding the Copyright Stasi.

If I'm composing e-mails or letters, I tend to use a sans-serif font called called 'Calibri', but sometimes I like to experiment with trying out different fonts, particularly if sending personal e-mails and letters.

What I've found is that some fonts seem better suited to smaller font sizes, whilst others (particularly calligraphy and script fonts) are more suited to larger font sizes. Some fonts seem to look better on screen, whilst others look better printed. This is just my personal opinion.

Out of the fonts you mentioned, the one I am least likely to use is Times New Roman. I find Comic Sans to be a rather likable informal-looking font, but that's just me.