Autistic people seem to feel joy differently – here’s what it can tell us about neurodivergence

When people talk about autism, they often think about a child who is different and may be distressed by their surroundings. Or if the conversation moves beyond childhood, the focus might be about an autistic adult with analytical superpowers, such as The Good Doctor or Patience, who still has difficulty with their surroundings and fitting in with colleagues.

People rarely mention autistic joy. However, a 2024 study found that most autistic people often experience joy, with one participant in that study noting: “Lining things up is fun because it’s pleasurable. It’s odd that [non-autistic people] don’t understand it. Sorting/organising is one of the deepest pleasures in life, as intense/as sought after as delicious food.”

Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference. Autistic people are often, incorrectly, viewed as lacking in empathy. This may be because autistic people often have more muted facial expressions.

Autistic people like myself may also struggle to recognise our own emotions, a concept known as alexithymia. However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t feel intense joy.

It is often claimed that autistic people lack emotions. However, autistic people can feel emotions intensely, including for other people, animals and even inanimate objects. This can be linked to high rates of involvement in social justice work.

Sensory processes

The majority of autistic people have sensory processing differences, compared to non-autistic people. This includes finding many of the spaces of modern living painfully loud, bright and overly populated.

This can be intensely overwhelming and distressing, especially when it is not in the person’s control to alter the environment. These sensory challenges are well documented. For autistic people who are hyper-sensitive to the sensory world around them, this can increase anxiety.

Also, one of the diagnostic criteria for autism is doing the same thing over and over, referred to as “repetitive behaviours”. One form of this is what autistic people call stimming.

When stimming, an autistic person is creating joyous sensory input for themselves. This can be moving their body or hands in a particular way, touching something soothing, using their voice or consuming the same audio or video content over and over again.

Each autistic person will have their own unique stims, which are both joy inducing and reassuring.

Stimming is vital for autistic people’s mental wellbeing, but all too often autistic children are encouraged to stop and many autistic adults feel too self-conscious to stim openly.

However, some autistic advocates are now showing their joyful stimming on social media, to try to reduce the stigma.

Communication

Autistic people use clear and direct communication, and typically understand other people’s language literally. This can make understanding non-autistic communication confusing, and can lead to bullying and exclusion by non-autistic peers.

However, when autistic people speak to each other, these misunderstandings disappear. But more than that, autistic people can find delight in “info dumping”.

Info dumping is the process of sharing, often a large amount of, information about a topic they really like. It is usually reserved for a person they feel safe with.

Unlike a neurotypical chat, info dumping often doesn’t look like a conversation. It may involve long monologues, accompanied by a response that is not particularly on topic, where the second person also “info dumps”. It has been described as a neurodivergent love language.

Unsurprisingly, autistic people may form strong attachments to a single best friend or close group of friends, with autistic boys in particular having a different friendship pattern to non-autistic people.

Hyperfocus

Autistic people are more likely than non-autistic people to hyperfocus on things. This is known as monotropism, where the brain is thinking in depth about one thing at a time. By comparison, non-monotropic people may think about several things at the same time, but achieve less depth of thought.

It can be really enjoyable being in a state of hyperfocus, or a “flow state”, for both autistic and non-autistic people. However, it can also lead to overwork and work-family conflict.

What does it all mean?

You may be wondering, how is autistic joy different from other neurotypical forms of happiness? The straight answer is we don’t currently know, as the research hasn’t been done yet. Although I suspect that autistic people get increased joy from sensory activities that they enjoy compared to non-autistic people.

Drawing on my own experience as an autistic person, I get enormous joy from looking at trees. Seeing particular trees gives me the warm feeling I get when I see a friend. It may be that for me, seeing trees gives me a dose of oxytocin. This may also be true for autistic people in general when they encounter objects that they have a strong positive attachment to, although it hasn’t been tested yet.

When thinking about autism, and autistic people, it is important to not only focus on the difficulties. Autistic people have a great capacity for joy, but need spaces that feel safe enough to be their authentic, joyful selves.

Aimee Grant receives funding from The Wellcome Trust and UKRI.