You might have heard of something called the autistic accent…or noticed that autistic people sound differently in conversation than you are used to or expect.
Their rhythm may turn statements into questions or questions into regular-sounding statements.
This is known as the “autistic accent”, a distinctive speech pattern that stands out among the non-autistic population.
How to spot the autistic accent
The most common patterns include:
- Monotone: One steady, solid tone (“flat”) of voice void of the fluctuations non-autistic people typically use.
- Repetitive speech (echolalia): Repeating words/phrases they’ve heard, quoting characters or lyrics
- Robot-like speech: Might sound robotic when speaking, or overly encyclopedic
- Sing-song: Rhythm of speech sounds akin to or reminiscent of a song, or may even BE a song (think musical)
Autistic people may also have a large vocabulary.
Non-autistic people tend to refrain from using a large vocabulary, because they don’t usually listen to everything being said and tune into only parts of conversations.
Autistic people don’t, so non-autistic people perceive autistics as “unusual” for how they express themselves.
The differences in how autistic people speak causes problems in casual and professional settings because non-autistic people are prejudice against that which they’re not accustomed to.
There’s nothing inherently wrong about how autistic people speak — it’s simply different. Society’s inability to tolerate those differences is the problem.
The “autistic accent” is more recognizable in everyday conversations.
Non-autistic people often mistake us for being upset/sad/overly joyful/etc. They struggle to determine how we feel from the tone of our voice, which is futile because how an autistic person sounds isn’t directly tied to how we feel.
When I struggle to breathe and speak at the same time, I sound exasperated. I might sound happy or chill when I’m actually upset.
The tone of my voice has little to do with my feelings, but allistic people apply meaning to my tone and speech patterns that aren’t there despite this.
Why the autistic accent happens
🤷♀️ Why does the non-autistic accent happen?
You can go back and search for another answer, but they’ll all be biased conjecture written by non-autistic people who blame autism instead of their own prejudice.
Speech patterns may be determined by how someone processes language, but this isn’t unique to autistic people.
What influences an autistic person’s accent
Autistic people may mimic other people’s accents. This is common in some neurodivergent people, but it’s also common in neurotypical people. It’s called the chameleon effect, or “unintentional mirroring”, and happens subconsciously.
It might simply be because you want to fit in or your brain simply does it.
But echolalia may also be the reason, because it’s not only copying words and phrases — it includes repeating how they’re said.
And when you get enough echolalia in your head, you can create a unique “accent” as the result OF echolalia.
Being around people with different speech patterns and even accents different from the “normal” ones associated with their geographical location can influence how an autistic person sounds.
During my formative years, I watched a lot of Degrassi and The Saddle Club, and later watched H2O: Just Add Water, Skins and Orphan Black in early adulthood. I say “sorry”, “about” and “house” like Canadians do more often than Americans around me are comfortable with.
Problems with calling it the autistic accent
Sooo the term “autistic accent” is a derogatory stereotype.
Able-bodied, non-autistic/neurotypical people pathologize things disabled people do as if their traits are extremely special.
When Deaf people talk, Hearing people note how different the Deaf person sounds and dub that the “Deaf accent”.
They do the same with someone with Down syndrome speaks with a “Down syndrome accent”.
At the end of the day, everyone has their own accent, but we don’t individually recognize ourselves as having any particular accent.
An accent is literally how someone speaks — anyone, everyone, society as a whole.
Everyone carries themselves differently, so why is there so much emphasis on how someone speaks? Focusing on what people are saying would be better, less prejudice.
Because, at the end of the day, that’s why I wrote and published this post:
- to address prejudice towards autistic people
- to educate non-autistic people about their privilege
- to inform/explain the problem with fretting over how disabled people speak differently
Other things people ask about autistic people:
- Did scientists really create autistic monkeys?
- Does autism get better with age?
- I don’t want to be perceived.
- Why do autistic people prefer beige food?
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