Reframing Autistic Stereotypes

Take the stereotypes you've been carrying about being autistic and rewrite each one in a sentence that's both more honest and more true.

Reframing isn't telling yourself a nicer lie. It is not the work of 'thinking positive.' Most of the stereotypes you've inherited about autistic people contain a small grain of observation wrapped in a large amount of distortion. The reframe is the work of separating the two — keeping the grain, dropping the distortion, and saying something out loud that you can actually believe.

Pair with: This worksheet works best as a companion to Stereotypes of Autistic People. If you haven't done that one, we recommend starting there.

How a Good Reframe Looks

Stereotype: 'Autistic people lack empathy.'

Bad reframe: 'I have so much empathy!' (Too clean. Too defensive. Doesn't account for the grain of truth — sometimes my body does have a delay before it registers what someone else is feeling.)

Good reframe: 'My empathy is real but the signal route is different. I sometimes feel other people's emotions more strongly than they do, just on a delay — and I sometimes need to be told plainly what's going on for someone before I can locate it.'

Notice that the good reframe is longer. It is allowed to be longer.

Your Five Reframes

For each stereotype, write the reframe you'd actually believe — including the grain of truth, if there is one.

Reframe 1

Stereotype I've heard / carried:

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The grain of truth in it (if any):

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My honest reframe:

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Reframe 2

Stereotype:

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The grain of truth:

______________________________________________

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My honest reframe:

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Reframe 3

Stereotype:

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The grain of truth:

______________________________________________

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My honest reframe:

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Reframe 4

Stereotype:

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The grain of truth:

______________________________________________

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My honest reframe:

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Reframe 5

Stereotype:

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The grain of truth:

______________________________________________

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My honest reframe:

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The One You Carry With You

Of the five, pick the reframe you most need to remember. Write it again, in its strongest form.

The reframe I'm carrying out of this worksheet:

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Where will I put it so I'll see it? (Lock screen, mirror, journal cover, sticky note on my monitor.)

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Inspired by: Inspired by Devon Price's Reframing Autistic Stereotypes exercise in Unmasking Autism (Harmony, 2022). The prompts, examples, and language 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.

• Self-Esteem, Identity, and Late Diagnosis, from The Neurodivergent Brain. Why misunderstanding erodes neurodivergent self-worth, what late diagnosis really feels like, and how to reauthor your story.
• What Is Neurodivergence?, from The Neurodivergent Brain. What 'neurodivergent' means, how autism, ADHD & AuDHD differ, the spiky profile, and why fit beats fixing.
• You Were Never Broken, from The Autistic Woman. Discovering you're autistic as an adult woman: the relief and grief of late discovery, and the reframe from 'broken' to differently wired.