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A Cross-Cultural Examination of Blatant and Subtle Dehumanization of Autistic People

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Abstract

Purpose

This cross-cultural study examined various domains of dehumanization, including both blatant (viewing autistic people as animal-like, child-like, or machine-like) and subtle (denying agency and experience capabilities) dehumanization, of autistic individuals by Koreans and Americans.

Methods

A total of 404 Koreans and 229 Americans participated in an online survey, assessing blatant and subtle dehumanization, knowledge about autism, stigma toward and contact with autistic people, cultural factors, and demographic information. Robust linear mixed-effects regressions were conducted to examine the impact of the target group (autistic vs. non-autistic) and the country (South Korea vs. the US) on dehumanization. Additionally, correlations and multiple regressions were employed to identify individual variables associated with dehumanization.

Results

Both Koreans and Americans exhibited more dehumanizing attitudes towards autistic individuals than non-autistic individuals across all domains. Koreans showed greater dehumanization of autistic individuals than Americans in all domains except for the machine-like domain. Stigma toward autistic people was associated with all dehumanization domains among Koreans and with some of the domains among Americans. Individual variables associated with dehumanization varied across countries and domains. Positive contact quality frequently predicted lower dehumanization in both cultures.

Conclusions

Non-autistic individuals consistently rated autistic people as less human than non-autistic people. Future research examining how autistic characteristics or societal perceptions that influence the consideration of an autistic person’s humanness vary across cultures is needed. Implementing interventions aimed at enhancing non-autistic people’s understanding of autistic individuals’ agency and experience capabilities and promoting high-quality contact opportunities with autistic individuals may help reduce dehumanizing attitudes.

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Notes

  1. We used identity-first language (e.g., ‘autistic individuals’) to align with the preference of many self-advocates in the autistic community (Bottema-Beutel et al., 2018). We recognize the ongoing discourse about language choices and acknowledge that not everyone in the autistic community may endorse identity-first language.

  2. We did not utilize repeated-measure multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) because our research focus was on understanding different associations of each predictor with various dehumanization domains, rather than examining the overall effect of a variable across different domains of dehumanization. Also, we assessed the assumptions related to MANOVA and found that Levene's test, commonly used for evaluating variance homogeneity, indicated violations of the assumption of equal variances across domains. Therefore, we chose to utilize robust linear mixed-effects regression analysis, which can account for unequal variances.

  3. We did not conduct multivariate regression because initial zero-order correlations revealed that different sets of variables were correlated with different domains of dehumanization, and the included predictors varied across dehumanization domains.

  4. We conducted exploratory follow-up analyses to examine which subscales within the essentialism index are correlated with or predict dehumanization domains. There were no consistent patterns regarding which specific subscale was associated with dehumanization domains, and none of the subscale scores significantly predicted dehumanization domains.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Yonsei Signature Cluster Program of 2023 (2023-22-0013).

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  1. Department of Teacher Education, Duksung Women’s University, 33, Samyang-ro 144-gil, Dobong-gu, Seoul, 01369, Republic of Korea

    So Yoon Kim

  2. Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, 50, Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Jeong Eun Cheon & Young-Hoon Kim

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by SYK and JEC. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SYK, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Kim, S.Y., Cheon, J.E. & Kim, YH. A Cross-Cultural Examination of Blatant and Subtle Dehumanization of Autistic People. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06217-x

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