The Double Empathy Reader
Exploring Theory, Neurodivergent Lived Experience and Implications for Practice
Published on 9. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
520 pages
978-1-80388-295-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Double Empathy Reader brings together a substantial collection of work from leading researchers, theorists and practitioners, with first-hand accounts of neurodivergent people, to explore this growing area of study within the neurodiversity movement.
This comprehensive handbook explores Damian Milton's 'double empathy problem': the breakdown in mutual understanding that can happen between any two people yet is more likely to occur when people of differing dispositions attempt to interact. It challenges the traditional view that in exchanges between autistic and non-autistic people, this breakdown was simply the result of autistic people being inherently deficient in empathy. Thirteen years after the theory was first published, The Double Empathy Reader brings together an important volume of work to explore the research that has developed in that time as well as the many gaps in our understanding that still exist, with the aim to understand the potential of this theory to aid a reframing of autism itself and the radical change this could bring when considering best practice models for supporting autistic people in different settings. This title is the first in a new 'Readers in Neurodiversity' series, which follows Milton et al's The Neurodiversity Reader, first published in 2020. In keeping with this earlier collection, this new volume also explores how the concept of the 'double empathy problem' may be of use in wider theory and practice regarding neurodiversity.
This comprehensive handbook explores Damian Milton's 'double empathy problem': the breakdown in mutual understanding that can happen between any two people yet is more likely to occur when people of differing dispositions attempt to interact. It challenges the traditional view that in exchanges between autistic and non-autistic people, this breakdown was simply the result of autistic people being inherently deficient in empathy. Thirteen years after the theory was first published, The Double Empathy Reader brings together an important volume of work to explore the research that has developed in that time as well as the many gaps in our understanding that still exist, with the aim to understand the potential of this theory to aid a reframing of autism itself and the radical change this could bring when considering best practice models for supporting autistic people in different settings. This title is the first in a new 'Readers in Neurodiversity' series, which follows Milton et al's The Neurodiversity Reader, first published in 2020. In keeping with this earlier collection, this new volume also explores how the concept of the 'double empathy problem' may be of use in wider theory and practice regarding neurodiversity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Hove
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 189 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
983 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80388-295-6 (9781803882956)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Damian Milton is a sociologist and social psychologist who specialises in autism research and is an autism rights advocate. Damian works part-time for the Tizard Centre, University of Kent as a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Damian has also been a consultant for the Transform Autism Education (TAE) project and numerous projects for the Autism Education Trust (AET). Damian's interest in autism began when his son was diagnosed in 2005 as autistic at the age of two. Damian was also diagnosed with Asperger's in 2009 at the age of 36. Damian's primary focus is on increasing the meaningful participation of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in the research process and chairs the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC).
Content
Section 1: Theoretical Accounts
1. An introduction to The Double Empathy Reader
2. The Double Empathy Problem: 10 Years On
3. Reframing Social Communication...
4. Methodological Lessons for Future Research
5. How Not to Solve the DEP
6. Intellectual Humility and DEP theory
7. Realising Autistic Individuation and Bridging the DE Divide
8. Revisiting Goffman: The presentation of an autistic self in everyday life
9. Neurotransception: A Conceptual Framework
10. Autistic Lived Experiences of Interneurotype Communication
11. Autistic Sociality in Autistic Spaces + Cultures
Section 2: Experiential Accounts
12. On the Ontological Status of Autism
13. Normative Violence and the Consequences
14. Landscapes of an Origami Girl
15. DEP: Approaching from Three Angles
16. Professional Scrutiny of Autistic Families
17. Creating Church Cultures that Validate Autistic Social and Communication Differences
18. DEP & Disparate Autistic Health Care Access
Section 3: The DEP in Practice
19. Autistic Flourishing and DE
20. Human Kinds and Neurocultural Mediation
21. DEP to Reframe Support for Peer Interaction
22. Authentic Autistic Play: A DEP?
23. The Embodied DEP
24. A Measure of Self-Empathy
25. 1:1 Collaborative Drawing as a Way for Autistic Children to Construct Their Experiences
26. Inequity in UK Healthcare for Autistic People with a Womb
27. Taking up Theatre and Improv
28. Being a Strong Advocate for Autistic People
29. Specialist Mentoring and DEP
30. Navigating Life as a Trans Autistic Person
31. Using Universal Design to Reduce DEP
32. Overcoming DEP Barriers in Higher Ed
33. Conclusion
1. An introduction to The Double Empathy Reader
2. The Double Empathy Problem: 10 Years On
3. Reframing Social Communication...
4. Methodological Lessons for Future Research
5. How Not to Solve the DEP
6. Intellectual Humility and DEP theory
7. Realising Autistic Individuation and Bridging the DE Divide
8. Revisiting Goffman: The presentation of an autistic self in everyday life
9. Neurotransception: A Conceptual Framework
10. Autistic Lived Experiences of Interneurotype Communication
11. Autistic Sociality in Autistic Spaces + Cultures
Section 2: Experiential Accounts
12. On the Ontological Status of Autism
13. Normative Violence and the Consequences
14. Landscapes of an Origami Girl
15. DEP: Approaching from Three Angles
16. Professional Scrutiny of Autistic Families
17. Creating Church Cultures that Validate Autistic Social and Communication Differences
18. DEP & Disparate Autistic Health Care Access
Section 3: The DEP in Practice
19. Autistic Flourishing and DE
20. Human Kinds and Neurocultural Mediation
21. DEP to Reframe Support for Peer Interaction
22. Authentic Autistic Play: A DEP?
23. The Embodied DEP
24. A Measure of Self-Empathy
25. 1:1 Collaborative Drawing as a Way for Autistic Children to Construct Their Experiences
26. Inequity in UK Healthcare for Autistic People with a Womb
27. Taking up Theatre and Improv
28. Being a Strong Advocate for Autistic People
29. Specialist Mentoring and DEP
30. Navigating Life as a Trans Autistic Person
31. Using Universal Design to Reduce DEP
32. Overcoming DEP Barriers in Higher Ed
33. Conclusion