Subject: Autistic ‘black and white’ thinking.
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Fricker, M. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing
- Defines how power wrongs people, incl. how society lacks concepts to describe harms.Hollocks et al. (2025). Cognitive flexibility mediates the associations between perceived stress, social camouflaging and mental health challenges in autistic adults. Autism Research, 18(8), 1595–1607. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aur.70061
- Higher stress in autistic people was linked to worse anxiety/depression & more rigid thinking.more below
Jameel, L. et al. (2015) clear-cut vs ambiguous social rules (UCL PDF)
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1469956/1/Jameel%20et%20al.%20Great%20Expectations.pdf
- Looks at whether social rules are clear-cut or ambiguous and measures responses as a direct test of rule clarity.Jin, P. et al. (2020) fairness games in autism (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7137314/
- Uses economic fairness tasks to compare fairness-related choices in autistic and non-autistic groups.more below
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Jameel, L. et al. (2015) clear-cut vs ambiguous social rules (UCL PDF)
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1469956/1/Jameel%20et%20al.%20Great%20Expectations.pdf
- Looks at whether social rules are clear-cut or ambiguous and measures responses as a direct test of rule clarity.Jin, P. et al. (2020) fairness games in autism (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7137314/
- Uses economic fairness tasks to compare fairness-related choices in autistic and non-autistic groups.more below
Karvelis, P. et al. (2018) Bayesian visual integration and autistic traits (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5966274/
- Tests autistic traits in Bayesian integration and links traits to stronger perception via more precise sensory information.Li, J. et al. (2014) moral judgement and cooperation in autism (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3945921/
- Relates moral judgements in autism to cooperation behaviour in a game context.more below
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Karvelis, P. et al. (2018) Bayesian visual integration and autistic traits (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5966274/
- Tests autistic traits in Bayesian integration and links traits to stronger perception via more precise sensory information.Li, J. et al. (2014) moral judgement and cooperation in autism (open access, PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3945921/
- Relates moral judgements in autism to cooperation behaviour in a game context.more below
Orwell, G. (1946) “Politics and the English Language”
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/
- Shows how vague language protects cruelty & frames clarity as resistance to manipulation.Pellicano, E. & Burr, D. (2012) Bayesian explanation of autistic perception (UCL record)
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476122/
- A Bayesian framing of autistic perception showing how priors and uncertainty differ in shaping experience.End of refs.
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7. We can be a bit like pattern-seeking missiles.
8. When new evidence comes to light, we’re generally adaptable – even if it takes a minute.
9. That said, we may dig in our heels about things (like change) when we’re anxious or scared.
10. We like gathering data, and interactions that are a true exchange of information.
But none of this amounts to cognitive rigidity or ‘black and white’ thinking
️@KatyElphinstone Being unambiguous is not “black and white” nor is it limiting. One can have a huge rainbow of clearly defined colours. Blue is not red, yellow is not green. But there are limitless colours. I suspect sometimes people mistake a strong desire for clarity to be a refusal to accept complexity. Sometimes it’s just a stubborn effort to understand or organise the complexity.
I love the phrase “pattern-seeking missile.”
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@KatyElphinstone
on the vague re-assurances being worth Jack SquatYes, that too, exactly!
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I think our bones are right.
In fact, I think embracing a reasoning style based on data, patterns, and probability could be a huge bonus for everyone.
As – objectively speaking – it could pave the road for authenticity, equity, and justice to replace former murkiness, power plays, and empty promises.
End of 🧵
References below
@KatyElphinstone Great thread!
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Ah yes, so "stop being obstructive" ... or "no one else is complaining" ... or "you've gone out of my depth but instead of learning to swim I'm going to shut you down" ?
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Orwell, G. (1946) “Politics and the English Language”
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/
- Shows how vague language protects cruelty & frames clarity as resistance to manipulation.Pellicano, E. & Burr, D. (2012) Bayesian explanation of autistic perception (UCL record)
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476122/
- A Bayesian framing of autistic perception showing how priors and uncertainty differ in shaping experience.End of refs.
@KatyElphinstone Amazing, couldn't agree more. And beyond autistic people I think it applies to most highly sensitive, deep thinking people. Because to us it's logic, which is needed to reason. Also why insensitive people don't like us a lot of times I think, as we reinforce their cognitive dissonance.
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I think our bones are right.
In fact, I think embracing a reasoning style based on data, patterns, and probability could be a huge bonus for everyone.
As – objectively speaking – it could pave the road for authenticity, equity, and justice to replace former murkiness, power plays, and empty promises.
End of 🧵
References below
@KatyElphinstone If I may sum up:
(1) Neurotypicals are the ones who are rigid, not #autistics! They have a hardwired set of assumptions and mental reflexes that facilitate efficient interaction with common environments (especially social environments) but can fail very badly outside their native domain. What I call the #EnvironmentalYoke.
(2) Autistics appear to pay a heavy price for our disconnect from the hardwired social interactions at which neurotypicals are so facile, but it is a FIXED price, paid up front. In return we get a potentially unlimited income stream of principled insights into how the world — the WHOLE world, not just the socially relevant part — REALLY works.
(3) Given (1) and (2), no wonder evolution keeps inflicting our kind on a bewildered neurotypical social world that sees nothing in us but weirdness and inefficiency.
(4) Your references appear to be a gold mine of resources for giving detail and concreteness to the very general concept of an #EnvironmentalYoke.
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@KatyElphinstone if you have audhd this is true except you're also chained to a gremlin
Aarrgh that sounds tough!
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Subject: Autistic ‘black and white’ thinking.
It's framed as a deficit often seen in autism, but... is it that simple?
Autistic people are traditionally criticized for our inflexibility, or cognitive rigidity.
But I think this isn’t the whole picture.
To start with what we know, here are ten things we autistic people generally have in common (refs at the end of the thread):
️ #Autism #Neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Neurodiversity
@KatyElphinstone I am of the unshakeable conviction that we may be different, but neither better nor worse. Put us in the right place and we'll flourish, put us in the wrong one and we won't. Just like anybody else.
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1. Autistic people like to base our positions and decisions on data.
2. We’re into justice, and fairness.
3. And logic (which is, I feel, a good strategy for bringing about more fairness).
4. We're not comfortable trusting reassurances without evidence.
5. We like clarity. Lack of clarity can make us anxious.
6. We think probabilistically / statistically.
️@KatyElphinstone I love this whole list, and feel very seen just reading it. Number 5 is an often overlooked fact, and I run into it sometimes. Empty assurances bug me, especially from a stranger or a meme. I feel like people deploy those when they're uncomfortable with another's suffering and don't know what else to say. So they crank out a platitude and get their dopamine rush, feeling like a good person, but don't actually help in any way.
edit - I meant 4, not 5.
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Subject: Autistic ‘black and white’ thinking.
It's framed as a deficit often seen in autism, but... is it that simple?
Autistic people are traditionally criticized for our inflexibility, or cognitive rigidity.
But I think this isn’t the whole picture.
To start with what we know, here are ten things we autistic people generally have in common (refs at the end of the thread):
️ #Autism #Neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Neurodiversity
@KatyElphinstone This entire thread is so thoughtful and beautifully written — with references, even! Thank you.
️ Lots resonates here, but my very favorite phrasing was “uncertainty is explicitly modeled rather than socially smoothed over.” 
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I think our bones are right.
In fact, I think embracing a reasoning style based on data, patterns, and probability could be a huge bonus for everyone.
As – objectively speaking – it could pave the road for authenticity, equity, and justice to replace former murkiness, power plays, and empty promises.
End of 🧵
References below
@KatyElphinstone I am glad to hear I am not the only autistic person who thinks this way. I thought that all autistic people did, until recently I picked up a book of Greta Thunberg speeches, and I was confused when the second speech said, "I have Asperger's syndrome, and to me, almost everything is black or white." I thought back to when I was living with my parents, and they would get annoyed at me for saying things like, "I think its important to acknowledge that while that's effectively true in this case, it isn't technically the truth, and would lead to the wrong decision in some cases." Like, what could be more grey lol.
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4: Are we right not to ‘just trust’?
Many neurotypical social systems run on:
- Emotional smoothing
- Implicit trust
- Status-based reassurance
- Norm enforcement through vibe rather than dataIf you’ve repeatedly experienced (and many autistic people have; refs at the end):
- Broken promises
- Social insecurity and unpredictability
- Rule inconsistencies and injusticesThen vague reassurance doesn’t reduce uncertainty – it increases it!
️@KatyElphinstone That may be why traditional advertisement doesn't work on us - we simply don't trust it.
Speaking for myself, no matter how promising an advertisement looks, I'll ignore it simply because it's advertisement. It's not a trustworthy source of information. Broken promises is all I'll ever expect from advertisement.
(That framing would also indicate what type of advertisement does work: anything from a trustworthy source, for example product information or recommendations contained in articles or blog posts from authors we consider reliable.)
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4: Are we right not to ‘just trust’?
Many neurotypical social systems run on:
- Emotional smoothing
- Implicit trust
- Status-based reassurance
- Norm enforcement through vibe rather than dataIf you’ve repeatedly experienced (and many autistic people have; refs at the end):
- Broken promises
- Social insecurity and unpredictability
- Rule inconsistencies and injusticesThen vague reassurance doesn’t reduce uncertainty – it increases it!
️- emotional smoothing by whom?
- implicit trust in what?
- norm enforcement through what kind of vibe?The hiding and staying at an „aloof“ distance that was interpreted as a characteristic of autistics is indeed a consequence of having been bitten not once, but over and over and over. Just like in that meme that says „I used to be a people person, but people ruined that for me“.
It’s punishment that does that.
Punishment for all the things you listed above, because they question hierarchy. They point out errors. And mistakes aren’t seen as necessary steps on the way, but as something that decreases your value, as bad, as something to be avoided because it weakens your status.
We live in a culture that’s based on competition rather than cooperation. And the ones on top are males. It’s about hierarchy all the way down, and most people strive to become more powerful rather than more respectful.
Our autistic out-of-the-box thinking is challenging. Those who are into hierarchy take any challenge as an attack, even personally, rather than an opportunity. They tend to interpret everything as an attack, even simple questions, because of their fear of failure, of losing status, and power.
So, the way I see it, you’re right and I agree with everything you said - but you don’t say the quiet part out loud:
- That emotional smoothing has a direction. It has to be done by those who have something to lose. By those afraid of escalation and punishment. Those further down in the hierarchy.
- those higher up want implicit trust in their authority, which is based on power. On status. Because if it were based on expertise, they’d actually encourage others to think for themselves and guide them through challenges so both sides have a chance to learn from them.
- and it’s norm enforcement through bribery for compliance on the pleasant side, and fear, intimidation and pain on the aversive side. Those are the basic control tools of patriarchy. This is why we see all that violence emerge once some power and hierarchy is challenged, rather than everyone take a step back and find a solution in a cooperative way that’s good for everyone. And we can see that in private as well as global scenarios. In ableism, racism, sexism… you name it.
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- emotional smoothing by whom?
- implicit trust in what?
- norm enforcement through what kind of vibe?The hiding and staying at an „aloof“ distance that was interpreted as a characteristic of autistics is indeed a consequence of having been bitten not once, but over and over and over. Just like in that meme that says „I used to be a people person, but people ruined that for me“.
It’s punishment that does that.
Punishment for all the things you listed above, because they question hierarchy. They point out errors. And mistakes aren’t seen as necessary steps on the way, but as something that decreases your value, as bad, as something to be avoided because it weakens your status.
We live in a culture that’s based on competition rather than cooperation. And the ones on top are males. It’s about hierarchy all the way down, and most people strive to become more powerful rather than more respectful.
Our autistic out-of-the-box thinking is challenging. Those who are into hierarchy take any challenge as an attack, even personally, rather than an opportunity. They tend to interpret everything as an attack, even simple questions, because of their fear of failure, of losing status, and power.
So, the way I see it, you’re right and I agree with everything you said - but you don’t say the quiet part out loud:
- That emotional smoothing has a direction. It has to be done by those who have something to lose. By those afraid of escalation and punishment. Those further down in the hierarchy.
- those higher up want implicit trust in their authority, which is based on power. On status. Because if it were based on expertise, they’d actually encourage others to think for themselves and guide them through challenges so both sides have a chance to learn from them.
- and it’s norm enforcement through bribery for compliance on the pleasant side, and fear, intimidation and pain on the aversive side. Those are the basic control tools of patriarchy. This is why we see all that violence emerge once some power and hierarchy is challenged, rather than everyone take a step back and find a solution in a cooperative way that’s good for everyone. And we can see that in private as well as global scenarios. In ableism, racism, sexism… you name it.
Exactly this. Nicely put indeed.
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- emotional smoothing by whom?
- implicit trust in what?
- norm enforcement through what kind of vibe?The hiding and staying at an „aloof“ distance that was interpreted as a characteristic of autistics is indeed a consequence of having been bitten not once, but over and over and over. Just like in that meme that says „I used to be a people person, but people ruined that for me“.
It’s punishment that does that.
Punishment for all the things you listed above, because they question hierarchy. They point out errors. And mistakes aren’t seen as necessary steps on the way, but as something that decreases your value, as bad, as something to be avoided because it weakens your status.
We live in a culture that’s based on competition rather than cooperation. And the ones on top are males. It’s about hierarchy all the way down, and most people strive to become more powerful rather than more respectful.
Our autistic out-of-the-box thinking is challenging. Those who are into hierarchy take any challenge as an attack, even personally, rather than an opportunity. They tend to interpret everything as an attack, even simple questions, because of their fear of failure, of losing status, and power.
So, the way I see it, you’re right and I agree with everything you said - but you don’t say the quiet part out loud:
- That emotional smoothing has a direction. It has to be done by those who have something to lose. By those afraid of escalation and punishment. Those further down in the hierarchy.
- those higher up want implicit trust in their authority, which is based on power. On status. Because if it were based on expertise, they’d actually encourage others to think for themselves and guide them through challenges so both sides have a chance to learn from them.
- and it’s norm enforcement through bribery for compliance on the pleasant side, and fear, intimidation and pain on the aversive side. Those are the basic control tools of patriarchy. This is why we see all that violence emerge once some power and hierarchy is challenged, rather than everyone take a step back and find a solution in a cooperative way that’s good for everyone. And we can see that in private as well as global scenarios. In ableism, racism, sexism… you name it.
In other words: I believe it’s not because all our differences have to be inherently difficult. They don’t punish us because theyre allistics.
Its because this culture has shaped affective priorities and thinking in a way that is deeply, deeply toxic. And we’re not automatically completely free from that just because of our different neurotype.
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@KatyElphinstone if you have audhd this is true except you're also chained to a gremlin
@sinvega @KatyElphinstone I prefer the term squirrel, but yes.
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@KatyElphinstone Great thread!
Thank you
