Neurodivergent humans might communicate in a different way, a way that is difficult for neurotypical humans to understand. Different social communication styles not necessarily a deficit, and it’s not a pathology – it’s a difference. However, having difficulty communicating in a way other people understand it can be frustrating and isolating.
Why is communication hard?
Difficulty in communication happens because we’re misunderstood. And we don’t want to be! And it’s often why we mask.
There’s scientific study regarding being misunderstood too! In this episode I’ll talk about these studies (and they’re linked below).
I’ll also describe how this impacts improv scenes in different types of improv (oh my gosh I’m going to talk about dramatic longform narrative… WHAT). In future episodes I’ll talk about how this impacts improv teams and communities.
Understand how communication works
I am mostly going to describe autistic/allistic communication because the differences have been described in research. However, you can apply these communication differences to many different demographics. For example, communication across neurotypes has been compared to cross-cultural communication. It’s relevant in many contexts.
And I also want to note — of COURSE everyone is misunderstood, sometimes. As with many things in this series about neurodiversity we are talking about the complexity, intensity, and frequency of these situations.
Avoiding misunderstanding takes a lot of work. We need to attempt to avoid making assumptions, jumping to conclusions, and inquire if we hear something that might not make sense. Or is considered overly direct or whatnot. Or doesn’t make sense.
Ask and answer questions or seek clarification. And listen to the response you receive! And, if it seems to be in good faith, take it as such.
Listen to the episode
Some of the studies discussed
These are some of the articles and science resources that were discussed in the podcast episode.
Autism and the double empathy problem: Implications for development and mental health
Perspective-taking is two-sided: Misunderstandings between people with Asperger’s syndrome and their family members1
1
Asperger’s is a deprecated term, and is now under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or often referred to as autism with low support needs.
Discuss this on Discord
Discuss this topic with improvisers
This link will take you directly to the forum for this newsletter on the Improv Update Discord.The discord also contains a bunch of channels for improv nerds. Nice.
