Overcoming the Double Empathy Problem Within Pairs of Autistic and Non-autistic Adults Through the Contemplation of Serious Literature

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. three authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Chapple, M., Davis, P., Billington, J., Myrick, J. A., Ruddock, C., & Corcoran, R. (2021). Overcoming the Double Empathy Problem Within Pairs of Autistic and Non-autistic Adults Through the Contemplation of Serious Literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 708375-708375. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708375

Publication date: 27 Jul 2021 Added to AutiHub: 20 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
3 / 6 (50.0%)

Abstract

Recent research based on the needs of the autistic community has explored the frequent social misunderstandings that arise between autistic and non-autistic people, known as the double empathy problem. Double empathy understandings require both groups to respect neurodiversity by focussing on individuality across groups. This study aimed to explore how literature, through its ability to uncover nuanced emotional response differences between readers, could facilitate double empathy understandings within pairs of autistic and non-autistic adults. A longitudinal, qualitative design was used, with 4 gender-matched pairs. Participants read Of Mice and Men for 1 week, whilst completing a structured, reflective diary. This was followed by 4 one-hour paired reading sessions, where pairs discussed the book and their reflections in depth. Participants were then invited to a final one-on-one interview to discuss their thoughts and experiences of the paired reading sessions. Thematic and literary analysis of the session and interview data revealed four themes (1) The Book as Social Oil; (2) From a World of Difference to a World of Affinity; (3) Emotional Intelligence: From Thinking About to Feeling with; and (4) From Overwhelming to Overcoming. All participants reported having achieved an individualised view of one another to explore their nuanced differences. The non-autistic group reported a more sensitive understanding of what it means to be autistic, while the autistic group overcame concerns about non-autistic people stereotyping autism, and instead reported feeling valued and accommodated by their non-autistic partners.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 14:09.

Cited references
76
With a DOI
64
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
12
18 / 76 (23.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 76 (3.9%)
References with detected author names
76 / 76 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
10
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
218
From DOI or external metadata
218
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
98 / 218 (45.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 120 / 218 (55.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
24 / 218 (11.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 24 / 98 (24.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 14 / 166 (8.4%).
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