First impressions of adults with autism improve with diagnostic disclosure and increased autism knowledge of peers.
Tell intellectually able adult clients that openly sharing their ASD diagnosis and educating peers increases positive first impressions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team showed short videos of adults with autism to 140 college students.
Half the students were told the adult had autism. The other half got no label.
Before viewing, some students read a one-page autism facts sheet. Others did not.
Each student then rated how smart, friendly, and hire-able the adult seemed.
What they found
When students knew the diagnosis and had read the fact sheet, scores jumped up.
The boost was big—about one full point on a seven-point scale.
Without the facts, the label alone did not help. Knowledge plus honesty moved impressions.
How this fits with other research
Fink et al. (2014) saw no emotion-recognition gap in autistic kids once verbal skill was matched. Their null result in children seems to clash with our positive adult finding, but age is the key. Kids may not face job interviews where first impressions decide hiring.
Sherwell et al. (2014) found autistic adults miss hidden social cues, yet our study shows a simple disclosure plus facts can still sway strangers. The two papers together say: social skill gaps exist, yet context and education can override them.
Sasson et al. (2018) showed autistic adults make rational, flexible choices. Pair that with our result and a pattern emerges: give peers clear information and adults with autism shine rather than stumble.
Why it matters
You can coach intellectually able adult clients to disclose their diagnosis and hand peers a short info card. In job clubs, college transition programs, or dating workshops, practice the script: “I have autism—here’s what helps me work best.” One minute of facts can flip a stranger’s view from doubt to respect.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A practical consideration for many intellectually able adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is whether to disclose their diagnostic status or try to mask their autistic characteristics to avoid judgment and discrimination. Here, we assessed first impressions of adults with ASD and typically developing controls (N = 40) made by typically developing observers (N = 215) when their diagnostic status was either withheld, accurately provided, or inaccurately provided. First impressions were less favorable for ASD participants compared to typically developing controls across a range of judgments, but were significantly more positive when accurately labeled as ASD compared to when no label was provided, when mislabeled as typically developing, or when mislabeled as having schizophrenia. For typically developing participants, ratings did not change when accurately labeled but improved when mislabeled as ASD. Greater autistic traits for the ASD and typically developing participants were associated with less favorable first impressions, and females were rated more favorably than males. Autism knowledge of the raters, but not age, IQ, or autistic traits, was positively associated with more favorable impressions of ASD participants. Collectively, these findings suggest that first impressions for intellectually able adults with ASD improve with diagnostic disclosure and increased autism understanding on the part of peers.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2019 · doi:10.1177/1362361317729526