Autism and the Sensory Disruption of Social Experience

Abstract

Autism research has recently witnessed an embodied turn. In response to the cognitivist approaches dominating the field, phenomenological scholars have suggested a reconceptualization of autism as a disorder of embodied intersubjectivity. Part of this interest in autistic embodiment concerns the role of sensory differences, which have recently been added to the diagnostic criteria of autism. While research suggests that sensory differences are implicated in a wide array of autistic social difficulties, it has not yet been explored how sensory and social experience in autism relate on a phenomenological level. Given the importance of the sensory dimension of social encounters in phenomenological analyses of autism, this question must be considered crucial. This article investigates the role played by sensory differences in autistic social experience. Through a phenomenological analysis informed primarily by the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty with particular emphasis on the relation between intersubjectivity and perception, I argue that sensory differences affect the way other people appear in autistic experience on a pre-reflective level. By drawing on autistic young adults’ experiential descriptions of social encounters, this article identifies three aspects of how sensory differences affect social experiences in autism. First, social encounters manifested as sensorially disturbing, chaotic, and unpredictable events. Second, the embodied expressions of others appeared unfamiliar, threatening, and promoted a sense of detachment from the social world. Third, deliberate practices were employed to actively seek perceptual and social meaning in these disorienting social encounters. This analysis stresses the importance of understanding embodied intersubjectivity through its sensory dimensions. In addition, it indicates an important avenue for future research in exploring the potential role of practice in maintaining an intuitive grip on social meaning. By approaching social encounters as sensory and perceptual events, I emphasize how social difficulties in autism are inherently world-involving phenomena rather than a cognitive deficit reducible to the autistic person.

‘I felt like my senses were under attack’: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of experiences of hypersensitivity in autistic individuals

“…The importance of predictability and a sense of subjective control over sensory experiences has also been confirmed by previous studies (see, for example, Robertson & Simmons, 2015; Smith & Sharp, 2013). Therefore, the possible beneficial role of stimulating active engagement on autistic social experience invites further consideration of how such practices may be supported and facilitated to strengthen autistic persons’ sense of social connectedness (see also Boldsen, 2022).…”

“…Thus considered, atypical sensory experiences do not consist of isolated or restricted phenomena but can affect the entire mode of people’s experiences and interactions with their environment. Knowledge about the intrinsic interwovenness of atypical sensory processing with other experiential domains – including the experience of self and others – can have important etiological (Boldsen, 2022; Robertson & Baron-Cohen, 2017) and clinical (Case-Smith et al, 2015) implications, yet remains limited in current research.…”

Incels, autism, and hopelessness: affective incorporation of online interaction as a challenge for phenomenological psychopathology

“…Most importantly, phenomenological approaches to autism have challenged the prevailing ways of defining autism as a deficiency of cognitive functioning – as a failure to understand the mental states of others and oneself ( Fuchs, 2015 ; Krueger, 2021b ; Boldsen, 2022 , 2). Instead, phenomenologists have argued that difficulties in interacting with neurotypical others stem from a different way of being bodily attuned to the environment and the expressive gestures of others ( Fuchs, 2015 ; Bizzari, 2018 ; Krueger, 2021b ; Bader and Fuchs, 2022 ; Boldsen, 2022 ). This conceptual change is sometimes called “an embodied turn” in autism research ( Boldsen, 2022 ).…”

“…Instead, phenomenologists have argued that difficulties in interacting with neurotypical others stem from a different way of being bodily attuned to the environment and the expressive gestures of others ( Fuchs, 2015 ; Bizzari, 2018 ; Krueger, 2021b ; Bader and Fuchs, 2022 ; Boldsen, 2022 ). This conceptual change is sometimes called “an embodied turn” in autism research ( Boldsen, 2022 ). The idea is that in neurotypical experience, the meaning of others’ gestures is implicitly and immediately present in social interaction, without having to first consider what a handshake, eye contact, a smile, a raised eyebrow, leaning forward, or turning away could possibly signify in a particular situation.…”

“…To our knowledge, it has not yet been investigated in phenomenological psychopathology, how online interactions might influence neurodevelopmental conditions. Recently we have seen a rise in phenomenological approaches to autism that acknowledge how neurotypical social contexts negatively shape non-neurotypical formation of experience ( Krueger, 2021b ; Boldsen, 2022 ). However, the potential impact of online interactions has largely been understood as beneficial, whereas the possible negative effects have not yet been in the focus.…”