For decades, one of the most persistent ideas about autism was that autistic people lack empathy. That idea has shaped how autism is diagnosed, how autistic people are supported, and how they feel about themselves. The double empathy problem offers a very different explanation, and research is increasingly backing it up.
Key Takeaways
- The double empathy problem was first described by autistic researcher Damian Milton in 2012.
- It challenges the idea that social difficulties are caused solely by a deficit in the autistic person.
- Communication breakdowns between autistic and non-autistic people are mutual, not one-sided.
- Research shows autistic people connect well with other autistic people. ³
- This theory has direct implications for how support, education, and diagnosis should work.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Autism assessment and treatment require consultation with a qualified clinician. To connect to a specialist, visit autismdetect.co.uk
What Is the Double Empathy Problem?
The double empathy problem is a theory put forward by Dr Damian Milton, an autistic academic and researcher, in a paper published in 2012.1 The central idea is this: when autistic and non-autistic people interact, the difficulties that arise are not caused by a deficit in the autistic person alone. They reflect a mismatch between two people who experience and understand the social world in very different ways.In other words, it is not that autistic people cannot empathise. It is that empathy is harder when two people’s communication styles, emotional expressions, and life experiences are significantly different. The problem, Milton argues, runs in both directions. 1
How the Double Empathy Theory Challenges Old Ideas About Autism
The previous mainstream view, rooted in theories like mind-blindness, 5 placed social difficulties firmly inside the autistic brain. Autistic people, the argument went, have a deficit in theory of mind, the ability to recognise that other people have their own thoughts, feelings, and intentions. Social failure was a one-way problem located in the autistic person. 5
What the double empathy problem points out is that non-autistic people also frequently misread autistic people. They misinterpret directness as rudeness. They miss emotional expressions that do not follow the expected script. They draw wrong conclusions about intent. That is not one-sided social failure. It is a mutual disconnect between two differently wired minds.6
Milton’s theory does not deny that autistic people can find social interaction challenging. It reframes where the challenge comes from. And that reframing matters enormously for how autistic people are seen and supported.
What the Research on Double Empathy Shows
Studies by Dr Catherine Crompton 8 provide some of the strongest experimental support for the double empathy theory. In one study, autistic people communicated and passed information just as reliably as non-autistic people when they were in groups of other autistic people. In mixed groups, communication broke down significantly more often.2
This is a striking finding. Autistic people do not universally struggle with social interaction. They struggle with a specific type of social interaction, one that requires navigating a non-autistic communication style in real time.2
Another key finding: autistic people consistently report higher levels of connection, understanding, and rapport when talking with other autistic people.3 This does not fit a simple “social deficit” model at all.
Autism Empathy: What It Actually Looks Like
Many autistic people describe having a great deal of empathy. They feel other people’s distress strongly, care deeply about fairness and justice, and can be profoundly affected by the suffering of others.6 What they often find harder is the quick, real-time social cognition that non-autistic interaction requires: reading facial expressions quickly, picking up on tone, following unspoken social rules in the moment.
Autistic empathy is not absent. It is often expressed differently, on a different timeline, or in ways that do not match non-autistic expectations.1 A person who does not make eye contact during a sad conversation may still be feeling the emotion deeply. The absence of the expected signal does not mean the absence of the feeling.
What the Double Empathy Problem Means in Real Life
This theory is more than just a concept; it is a lived reality that frequently shapes how we interact within the most fundamental areas of our daily lives.
Double Empathy Problem in Schools
An autistic child who seems disengaged, blunt, or difficult to connect with is not lacking empathy. They may be exhausted by the effort of translating between their own natural communication style and the non-autistic norms of the classroom. Understanding this changes how teachers and support staff should respond.
Double Empathy Problem in the Workplace
An autistic adult who comes across as abrupt or socially awkward to colleagues may communicate in a style that is perfectly clear and warm to other autistic people. The difficulty is not within the autistic person. It is in the translation gap between two different social styles.2 3
Double Empathy Problem in Families
Parents and autistic children sometimes struggle to connect in the ways they both want to. This is not a failure of love. It is often a genuine difference in how emotions are expressed and received. Recognising the two-way nature of this gap makes it easier to build bridges without blame.
Why This Matters for Diagnosis and Support
The double empathy problem is one reason why autism assessments need to be carried out by clinicians who understand autistic communication on its own terms, not simply as a deviation from a non-autistic norm.1 6
It also matters for how autistic people understand themselves. Many autistic adults have spent years believing they are fundamentally broken or socially defective. The double empathy theory offers a different frame: the difficulties are real, but they are relational, not located in a broken person.
If you are trying to understand social difficulties that have never quite made sense, a proper autism assessment is a reasonable next step. You can start with a free initial screening consultation at Autism Detect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the double empathy problem mean autistic people do have empathy?
Yes. Most autistic people experience empathy, sometimes intensely so. What the double empathy problem highlights is that the way empathy is expressed and received differs between autistic and non-autistic people. This can lead to misunderstandings on both sides, not to a lack of empathy in autistic people.
Is the double empathy problem supported by research?
Yes, increasingly so. Studies by researchers including Dr Catherine Crompton have shown that autistic people communicate and connect just as well with other autistic people as non-autistic people do with each other. Communication breaks down most in mixed-neurotype interactions, supporting the mutual mismatch idea.
Does the double empathy problem mean no support is needed?
No. The theory does not remove the need for support. It reframes where the responsibility lies. Support should focus on building mutual understanding on both sides, rather than training autistic people to imitate non-autistic social behaviour. That shift in approach tends to produce better outcomes and less psychological harm.
How does this theory change how autism should be diagnosed?
It highlights the importance of autism assessments that are conducted by clinicians who understand autistic communication on its own terms. An assessment that treats every difference from a non-autistic norm as a deficit may miss how an autistic person actually functions and experiences the world.
References
- Milton, D.E.M. (2012) ‘On the ontological status of autism: the “double empathy problem”‘, Disability & Society, 27(6), pp. 883–887. doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008 ↗
- Crompton, C.J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C.V.M., Flynn, E.G. and Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020) ‘Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective’, Autism, 24(7), pp. 1704–1712. doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286 ↗
- Crompton, C.J., Hallett, S., Ropar, D., Flynn, E. and Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020) ‘”I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people”‘, Autism, 24(6), pp. 1438–1448. doi.org/10.1177/1362361320908976 ↗
- Crompton, C.J. et al. (2025) ‘Information transfer within and between autistic and non-autistic people’, Nature Human Behaviour. doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02163-z ↗
- Baron-Cohen, S. (1995) Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. mitpress.mit.edu ↗
- Milton, D. (2017) ‘The double empathy problem’, National Autistic Society. autism.org.uk ↗
- University of Kent, Tizard Centre (2023) Dr Damian Milton – Staff Profile. kent.ac.uk ↗
- University of Edinburgh, IASH (n.d.) Dr Catherine Crompton – Researcher Profile. iash.ed.ac.uk ↗
