New research. A team tries to work out if self-identity as autistic is valid.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00385-8 is the paper.
I'll do a thread on some of their peculiar statements in it, and on the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) that they use to try to make a point. Here we go../
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00385-8 is the paper.
I'll do a thread on some of their peculiar statements in it, and on the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) that they use to try to make a point. Here we go../
Comments
They found some people on the "Prolific" '(hire a participant') website, and gave them an autism screening questionnaire called the BAPQ. They compared their results to 56 people who had a diagnosis of autism, and tried to make some sense of it/
Apparently they haven't heard of the word 'masking'.
Sigh/
But, moving on from this extraordinary thing...
Let's look at the BAPQ questionnaire, eh/
I'll discuss the questions below. It's a mess/
"I like being around other people." Yes, I do. Other autistic or neurodivergent people. I also like being around nonautistic people, but many respond in very eek ways to autistic ppl. This is well documented in research, e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep40700
Tricky, eh?/
This is a test of verbal dyspraxia, for example, not autism.
Can also be related to hearing impairment or a whole range of other things.
Plenty of autistic people speak very fluently indeed. What on earth is this question doing here?/
As a semi-speaking autistic, 'small talk' can be beyond me, some days.
“Yes I remembered to ask them the same trivial qu back. Side swerved referring to that person I know they hate for some unknown reason. Ahh, awkward silence. Don’t be weird, don’t be weird.”
Socializing *is* exchanging information
Reinforcing social bonds through verbal & nonverbal communication is exchanging information!
Wasn’t this written by social scientists?
What do they think…
1/
*It’s communication*
The exchange of information!
That exchange of information (along with all the nonverbal information communicated) is what socializing is.
That question is maddening.
For clarification: I’m neurodivergent
I do not have an autism *diagnosis*
2/
It is an example of social difficulties caused when people refuse to accept our 'altered insights' and assume instead that we are ignorant or confused or lying.
I wrote about my journey but I think it might be paywalled
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coming-out-autistic/
@helenangel.bsky.social
Evaluator: "Does your wife like spreadsheets, by any chance?" I do. I really do.