Autism Stereotypes

A first conversation with the stereotypes you've inherited about autism — what they say, who said them, and who they were really designed to serve.

Before we look at stereotypes about autistic people specifically (the next worksheet in this series), it helps to look at the broader category: stereotypes about autism itself. The idea, the diagnosis, the cluster of traits. Most people, autistic or not, are walking around with one of about three or four cultural pictures of what autism is, and those pictures shape what we expect, what we accept in ourselves, and what we miss.

Note: This is a lighter, earlier-in-the-journey worksheet. If you've already done deep work on internalized ableism, you may want to skip ahead to Stereotypes of Autistic People or Reframing Autistic Stereotypes.

Section 1 — The Pictures You Grew Up With

Try to remember the very first time you encountered the word 'autism' or 'autistic.' Don't worry about dates — just the picture you came away with.

Where did I first encounter the idea of autism? What picture did I come away with?

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What pictures of autism have I gotten from movies, TV, or news? (Specific characters or stories are useful.)

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What did adults in my life say about autism when I was a child? (Even if they weren't talking about me.)

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Section 2 — Three Stereotypes I Inherited

Pick three specific beliefs about autism that you absorbed before you knew much about it. Write them in plain words — not what you know now, what you absorbed then.

Stereotype A:

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Stereotype B:

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Stereotype C:

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Section 3 — Who Each One Served

Stereotypes don't appear out of nowhere. Each one was useful to somebody. For each of the three above, try to name who benefited from you believing it.

Stereotype A — who benefited from this belief being widespread? (A profession? A parent? A school system? A culture? Yourself, at one time?)

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Stereotype B — who benefited?

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Stereotype C — who benefited?

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Section 4 — What You Know Now

What do I know now that the version of me who first heard these stereotypes didn't?

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If I want to keep going, my next step is:

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Inspired by: Inspired by Devon Price's Autism Stereotypes worksheet in Unmasking Autism (Harmony, 2022). Prompts and framing above are our own.

A gentle note: This worksheet is a learning tool, not treatment. If what comes up for you feels too big to hold alone, please work with a qualified clinician.

Go deeper

Ready for more? These lessons pick up where this worksheet leaves off.

• What Is Neurodivergence?, from The Neurodivergent Brain. What 'neurodivergent' means, how autism, ADHD & AuDHD differ, the spiky profile, and why fit beats fixing.
• Masking & Authenticity, from The Neurodivergent Brain. How autistic masking (compensation, masking, assimilation) drives burnout — and what helps.
• What a Label Is, and What It Is Not, from Self-Identification. Four different jobs the same word is doing, and why most arguments about self-identification are two people using different ones.