How do autistic people view their empathic capacity?

Abstract

Extensive research has examined empathy in autistic people; this has largely been conducted by asking autistic participants to complete measures and engage in experimental procedures or by consulting with close relatives. To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first to seek the views of autistic participants on their self-perceived empathic capacity. In this case, empathy was explored within a wider context of self-concept. The study recruited 100 participants who were asked to complete 10 statements about themselves. Subsequently, participants were asked to rate their self-perceived empathy on a scale of 1-10, providing justification for this. Autistic and non-autistic participants made a comparable proportion of references to numerous psychological traits. However, non-autistic participants made a higher proportion of references to being happy, friendly and caring. Autistic participants gave lower self-ratings of empathy compared to non-autistic participants; however, the thematic analysis showed that both groups felt they had cognitive and affective empathic capacity, with nuanced differences between the groups. This paper highlights the importance of involving autistic voices in research about their empathic capacity and self-concept, identifying nuance in the autistic experience that has been generally overlooked in previous research.