Steven M. Hernandez

Researchers have long held that autistic people communicate badly and do not pretend. But recent research suggests that autistic people communicate well with other autistic people, unlike with neurotypical people. Moreover, autistic people patently pretend in some ways, through cosplay and roleplay, for example. There is a common explanation for both datapoints: everyone has cognitive styles which manifest in distinct communicative and pretending styles. People with similar styles understand each other better. In what this project terms the Double Empathy Theory, “Doubly Different” will construct the theory and demonstrate its scientific and social utility; its construction is informed by first-person data from autistic people, long omitted from empirical research. The Double Empathy Theory enables new, more specific research questions and promotes social equity for people of all neurotypes.