The Cost of Ableism - A Higher Bar to Meet and Negative Attribution Bias.

Ableism isn't just about overt discrimination; it also involves the pervasive expectations and pressures that can lead to negative attribution biases and the need to meet a higher bar for inclusion. 

The High Bar for Inclusion

Ableism manifests as an expectation for individuals with disabilities, to meet a higher bar for inclusion. This form of ableism places undue pressure on autistic individuals to conform to standards and norms typically designed without considering their unique needs and strengths. 

Unreasonable Expectations. Autistics are often expected to conform to neurotypical social behaviors and communication styles to be accepted in social, educational, or professional settings. This higher bar for inclusion is exhausting and unrealistic, disregarding the natural ways in which autistic individuals interact and express themselves.

Proving Competence. There is often an implicit or explicit requirement for  autistics to constantly prove their abilities and competence beyond what is expected of their NT peers. So its not about having to prove yourself one time, its proving competence in every repeated interaction and with every new person and with every new situation.This can stem from prejudiced assumptions about their capabilities, leading to significant stress and anxiety.

Extra Effort for Accommodation:  The burden of seeking and arranging accommodations frequently falls on autistic individuals. They may need to expend significant effort to advocate for themselves, explain their needs repeatedly, and navigate systems not designed to accommodate them easily. Accommodations for autism can vary depending on the autistic and there is no standard list of checkbox to tick off and say job done.

Perceived Advantage of Accommodations. Accommodations are often seen as giving autistic individuals an "advantage," which perversely leads to higher performance expectations. This perception overlooks the purpose of accommodations, which is to level the playing field, not to provide an edge. As a result, autistics may feel compelled that they have to over-perform to justify the accommodations they receive (which leads to burnout) or conversely may not be able to meet that higher bar. 

Gratefulness for Accommodations. Accommodations are often treated as favors being granted, leading to the expectation that autistic individuals should feel grateful for this largesse. This can create an imbalance in power dynamics, where the need for accommodations is seen as a privilege rather than a right, adding another layer of pressure on autistic individuals.

Higher Performance Standards In professional or academic settings, autistic individuals might be held to higher performance standards to counteract biases and demonstrate their worthiness for inclusion or advancement. This can lead to burnout and mental health issues, as they strive to meet expectations not equally applied to their neurotypical counterparts.

Social Acceptance Conditions. Inclusion in social groups might come with conditions that require autistic individuals to mask their natural behaviors or suppress their autistic traits, which is mentally and emotionally taxing. This masking forces individuals to hide their authentic selves to gain acceptance, rather than being embraced for who they truly are.

Normalization Pressure. The pressure to appear "normal" or "less autistic" and "not stim" is a significant barrier to genuine inclusion. This expectation forces individuals to suppress their identity to fit into a predefined mold, leading to stress and reduced self-esteem.

Negative Attribution Bias

Living in an ableist-centered world significantly influences the development of negative attribution biases among autistics. 

Frequent Experiences of Discrimination. Continuous exposure to ableism, where autistics face discrimination, exclusion, and negative stereotypes, leads to a general expectation of negative treatment from others. This constant barrage of negative experiences can result in heightened sensitivity to potential negative actions and intentions, fostering a negative attribution bias.

Social Marginalization. Being marginalized and misunderstood in social contexts can erode trust in others. When autistics repeatedly encounter negative, dismissive or hostile attitudes, they might start to interpret ambiguous social cues more negatively as a self-protective mechanism. This social marginalization reinforces the cycle of negative attribution.

Internalized Ableism. Constant exposure to societal ableism can lead to internalized ableism, where autistics begin to believe negative stereotypes about themselves. This internalized negativity colors their perceptions of others' behaviors, leading to a pervasive negative attribution bias.

Lack of Positive Social Interactions. Positive social interactions can counteract negative attribution biases by providing evidence of goodwill and understanding. However, if autistics have limited positive social experiences (or a history that is predominately negative) due to societal ableism, they are more prone to expecting and perceiving negative intentions in others, reinforcing their negative biases.

Stress and Anxiety. Living in an ableist society is inherently stressful and anxiety-inducing for individuals with autism. High levels of stress and anxiety impair social cognition, making it more challenging to interpret social cues accurately and leading to more negative attributions.

To combat these forms of ableism, a shift in societal attitudes and practices toward a more inclusive and equitable approach is necessary. This involves recognizing and valuing disability, creating environments that are inherently accommodating, and reducing the emphasis on conformity to neurotypical standards. Promoting awareness and understanding of ableism in all its forms is crucial in fostering true inclusion for individuals with autism and other disabilities.

Genuine inclusion means ensuring that everyone has the support they need to thrive.

Related Posts [Hostile Attribution Bias] [Neuroception]

Hostile Attribution Bias in Autism

Hostile attribution bias refers to the tendency to interpret others' ambiguous behaviors as having hostile intent. For instance, if someone accidentally bumps into a person with hostile attribution bias, they might assume it was done on purpose rather than an accident. This cognitive bias often leads to increased aggression and conflict in social interactions as the individual responds defensively or aggressively to perceived threats that may not actually exist.

Research on hostile attribution bias has predominantly focused on its prevalence in populations with externalizing behaviors, such as aggression and conduct disorders.  However, given the social communication challenges and the difficulty in interpreting social cues that are characteristic of autism, it is plausible that hostile attribution bias, could play a role in their social interactions.

Indeed, research suggests autistics [1] were more likely to interpret ambiguous social situations as hostile compared to their neurotypical peers. This tendency was linked to higher levels of social anxiety and other maladaptive (including aggression and SIB) behavior in these children.

However this hostile attribution bias, should not just be the attributed to the fact of disability, a.k.a, "difficulty in interpreting social cues in autism." It could well be the product of a lifetime of societal stigma and bias; exclusion, discrimination and misunderstanding. Research in social psychology supports the notion that chronic exposure to negative social experiences can shape cognitive and emotional responses. For individuals who consistently face these challenges, it is not uncommon to develop a heightened sensitivity to potential threats or hostile intentions in social interactions. They develop a lack of trust that people and systems around them will help them. This heightened sensitivity can manifest as hostile attribution bias, where even ambiguous or benign actions by others are interpreted as intentionally harmful or malicious. 

So the context of autism, individuals often face a unique set of social challenges and stigmatization, which can compound their difficulties in interpreting social cues. Studies have shown that individuals with autism are frequently subjected to social rejection, and misunderstandings [2]. 

And this stigma, exclusion and gatekeeping of opportunities for autistics tends to be even more pronounced, the more disabled you are seen, especially for autistics with externalizing behaviors and communication issues. It starts at a very early age where you are deemed incapable of learning and placed in a low expectations educational system which just deepens a self-fulfilling prophesy. You quickly learn the educators and educational system who's role was to educate and nurture you, are the often the very people who will gatekeep access to education itself.  The autistic is to blame for not improving, the onus is never on the educators or professionals involved. Autism is a huge profit making machine where millions benefit (fame, books, papers); everyone except the autistic.

These repeated negative interactions can reinforce a worldview where social threats are perceived as more prevalent, leading to increased hostile attribution bias. The combination of social communication difficulties inherent in autism and the external societal stigma creates a fertile ground for developing such cognitive biases [2], which only adds to their mental health toll. 

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Read more on Hostile Attribution Bias: [Version for Scientific/Academic Audience],  [PlainSpeak for the Lay Reader], [A Simple Definition]

Related Posts on [Neuroception], [Negative Attribution Bias] 

References

• 1. White, S. W., Ollendick, T., & Bray, B. C. (2011). College students on the autism spectrum: Prevalence and associated problems. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 15(6), 683-701.
• 2. Zablotsky, B., Bradshaw, C. P., Anderson, C. M., & Law, P. A. (2014). The association between bullying and the psychological functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(2), 106-116.

Research and the Testable Autistic

A fundamental issue in autism research is that again and again we are testing only a narrow band of "testable autistics." 

Essentially past and current research on Autism is oversampling the same ~30% of autistics, the testable autistics. Then we assume the results apply to all, when they do no. 

I was in a research stakeholder meeting last week where another autistic talked about the variety of different research studies she had participated in over the years. 

I was thinking of how many autism research studies where I've been a participant - it was ZERO, literally!! It was not that I did not want to, I was always in the exclusion criteria zone even in autism research. 

Growing up, I used to hear about what autistics are supposed to be thinking/doing, all based on the hundreds of studies that had already been done. And the thought was -  the results don't reflect me. Do I have the wrong dx?

We badly need to RETHINK RESEARCH METHODOLOGY along with new NEW TECHNOLOGY , so that we can expand this ZONE OF TESTABLE AUTISTICS so it's more representative of even those with high support needs like me. 

We can expand the range of testable autistics only if we use methods that don’t need fluent oral communication or fluent motor manipulation or expect a person to sit absolutely still. 

We need every neurodiverse/neurotypical mind thinking about this!!

So, what kind of methods can we use to extend the range of testable autistics.

We need to find answers and solutions for all autistics. THIS IS URGENT. 

School Districts and Compassion

"Hearing the comparison between how school districts treat autistic people based on their resources made me remember how my school district did their best to quarantine and isolate autistic people from others."

- from a student in the 1:54 Autism Spectum Disorder Class