Is There a Link Between Autistic People Being Perceived Unfavorably and Having a Mind That Is Difficult to Read?

Readability correlated with favourable ratings independently of diagnosis; the study also reported a difference between target groups.

Alkhaldi, R. S., Sheppard, E. & Mitchell, P. (2019). Is There a Link Between Autistic People Being Perceived Unfavorably and Having a Mind That Is Difficult to Read? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(10), 3973–3982.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04101-1

Checked

Against the abstract, 16 September 2026

Why it is on the list

The same videoed targets used by Sheppard and colleagues — people reacting to a distinctive greeting from an experimenter — were scored for how readable each one was. New groups of neurotypical perceivers then rated them. Neurotypical targets were rated more socially favourably than autistic targets, whether the details of the greeting were concealed (Study 1) or disclosed (Study 2). Readability correlated with favourability, r = .58 and r = .63, independent of target diagnosis.

Week 2 says style is judged before substance; week 11 asks how misreading relates to an unfavourable judgement. This study reports a correlation between readability and favourability. “Independent of target diagnosis” does not mean diagnosis had no relationship to the ratings: the group difference is also part of the result. It is a connection to investigate, not a demonstrated causal mechanism.

The authors hedge in their own abstract: perceivers might rate people unfavourably because they find them hard to read, though other interpretations of the correlation are also possible. This is correlational and the course keeps it that way.