A Cross-Cultural Examination of Blatant and Subtle Dehumanization of Autistic People.
Non-autistic adults in Korea and the USA consistently see autistic people as less human, driven by stigma and low-quality contact.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Yoon and colleagues asked the adults in Korea and the USA to fill out online surveys.
The surveys measured how "human" people rated autistic and non-autistic adults.
Each person answered questions about blatant dehumanization (open dislike) and subtle dehumanization (seeing autistic people as less warm or smart).
What they found
In both countries, non-autistic adults scored autistic people lower on every human-trait scale.
Korean participants gave even lower scores than Americans, but the gap was large in both cultures.
Poor-quality past contact with autistic people, plus high stigma beliefs, predicted the harshest ratings.
How this fits with other research
Ramos-Cabo et al. (2021) seems to say the opposite: teens with intellectual disability make harsher social judgments, not the public judging them. The difference is direction—Sara watched how disabled teens judge others, while Yoon watched how the public judges autistic adults.
van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk et al. (2006) also used surveys across cultures and found that mothers of autistic adults face heavy stigma. Yoon widens the lens, showing the same negative views exist in the general public, not just in caregivers.
Whitehouse et al. (2014) showed that autistic adults have limited community participation. Yoon gives one reason why: people around them may not see them as fully human, creating social barriers that programs alone cannot fix.
Why it matters
You now have data that stigma is global and measurable. Build staff training that includes respectful language, shared activities, and repeated positive contact—the only variables linked to lower dehumanization scores. When writing behavior plans, add goals that place clients in everyday community roles (cashier assistant, library helper) so neighbors gain high-quality contact that chips away at "less human" beliefs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: This cross-cultural study examined various domains of dehumanization, including both blatant (viewing autistic people as animal-like, child-like, or machine-like) and subtle (denying agency and experience capabilities) dehumanization, of autistic individuals by Koreans and Americans. METHODS: A total of 404 Koreans and 229 Americans participated in an online survey, assessing blatant and subtle dehumanization, knowledge about autism, stigma toward and contact with autistic people, cultural factors, and demographic information. Robust linear mixed-effects regressions were conducted to examine the impact of the target group (autistic vs. non-autistic) and the country (South Korea vs. the US) on dehumanization. Additionally, correlations and multiple regressions were employed to identify individual variables associated with dehumanization. RESULTS: Both Koreans and Americans exhibited more dehumanizing attitudes towards autistic individuals than non-autistic individuals across all domains. Koreans showed greater dehumanization of autistic individuals than Americans in all domains except for the machine-like domain. Stigma toward autistic people was associated with all dehumanization domains among Koreans and with some of the domains among Americans. Individual variables associated with dehumanization varied across countries and domains. Positive contact quality frequently predicted lower dehumanization in both cultures. CONCLUSIONS: Non-autistic individuals consistently rated autistic people as less human than non-autistic people. Future research examining how autistic characteristics or societal perceptions that influence the consideration of an autistic person's humanness vary across cultures is needed. Implementing interventions aimed at enhancing non-autistic people's understanding of autistic individuals' agency and experience capabilities and promoting high-quality contact opportunities with autistic individuals may help reduce dehumanizing attitudes.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/1745691620902133