Empathy and Interest Towards an Autistic Person and the Effect of Disclosing the Diagnosis.
Sharing an autism diagnosis makes listeners more accurate, kinder, and more willing to collaborate.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rum et al. (2025) ran three lab tests with college students. Half the students watched a video of an autistic adult who said, "I am autistic." The other half saw the same adult with no label.
After the video, students tried to read the speaker's feelings. They also rated how much they liked the speaker and if they would work with them on a task.
What they found
When the diagnosis was shared, viewers guessed the speaker's emotions more accurately. They also gave higher empathy scores and were more willing to team up.
The boost happened in all three samples. Disclosure did not change how friendly the speaker seemed, but it did improve understanding.
How this fits with other research
Ponnet et al. (2005) showed that autistic adults can read others' minds just as well as typical adults. Yonat's work flips the camera: it shows typical adults can read autistic people better once they know the label.
Darazsdi et al. (2023) found therapist bias hurts autistic clients. Yonat's results give hope: simple disclosure can soften outside views, at least in short lab chats.
Togher et al. (2023) asked when autistic adults choose to disclose. Yonat gives them a reason: telling may invite warmer, more accurate responses from new peers.
Why it matters
If you run social groups or job coaching, invite clients to share their diagnosis when they feel safe. One sentence—"I'm autistic"—can spark clearer empathy and teamwork from classmates or coworkers. Try adding a brief disclosure option to your next social skills session and watch for warmer peer responses.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigates the effects of disclosing an autism diagnosis on non-autistic listeners' empathy and social interest towards the autistic discloser. In Study 1, participants (non-autistic students in the social sciences/humanities [n = 99; 70% female]) watched a video of an autistic adult sharing an autobiographical story and reported how they believed the storyteller felt, following an introduction in which the storyteller did or did not disclose their diagnosis. Their evaluation of the storyteller's emotions was compared to the storyteller's own reports, resulting in an empathic accuracy measure. Participants reported how empathic they felt towards the storyteller and how socially interested they were in them. Studies 2 and 3 replicated the same procedure with STEM students (n = 96; 40% female), and with non-student adults (n = 76; 50% female) from diverse professional/occupational backgrounds, with an additional question about working together. In Study 1, participants in the self-disclosure condition demonstrated higher empathic accuracy, reported more empathy, and greater social interest in the storyteller. Study 2 showed a similar trend of higher empathy in the self-disclosure condition but no differences in social interest measures. Interest in working with the storyteller was higher in the self-disclosure condition. In Study 3, participants in the self-disclosure condition demonstrated higher empathy and greater interest in hearing another story and working with the storyteller. An individual's self-disclosure of an autism diagnosis improved others' ability to empathize with them and willingness to work with them. We discuss the complex effect of self-disclosure on social interest in an autistic person.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04601.x