Test

Not necessarily. The tendency is certainly there and some no doubt will.  Others may well have developed sufficient self-knowledge, or have sufficient background education on relevant topics, so as to recognise not only the literal sense of the words but also the fact that such a literal reading would be unhelpful or inappropriate in this case.

Yes, quite often. The difference comes mostly in the impact that such issues have.  Autistic people are quite inclined to become obsessed by issues that ‘don’t make sense’ to them and, finding no way to resolve an issue, to be severely affected by the resulting cognitive dissonance – for example being, quite literally, ‘kept awake at night’ . Neurotypical people tend to have more options available to them in terms of mitigating such impacts – often relating to inferences from context (either biblical or their own experience). This means that, whilst they notice the same issues they are less troubled by them than their autistic counterparts.

The traditional way of identifying autism with specific behaviours is not particularly helpful. Autism is a neurological distinctive.  It affects the way in which a person processes things of a sensory and cognitive nature. This distinctive ‘processing’ can then sometimes lead to distinctive behaviours, either in terms of social differences (which result from different ‘reading’ of communication and context) or in a more reactive way in response to the distress of an ‘overload’ situation. Autistic people vary in the extent to which they can develop and deploy ‘rules’ which enable them, at least in many of their day-to-day activities, to function in what society would regard as a ’normal’ fashion. It is only when they are moved outside of this ‘comfort zone’ that the extent of their difficulty becomes visible.

No, this is a gross generalisation. It is much more helpful to recognise that managing social interactions, especially in a large group setting, involves processing a vast amount of information. It is said that only 7% of any communication is made up from the actual words said. Autistic people tend to focus on this 7% and to experience much of the remaining 93% as ‘noise’. This makes social situations both difficult and tiring for autistic people – the more so as the size of group increases. Whilst it is probably fair to say that autistic people can often tend towards being somewhat introverted, and their social skills can often not be good, this is not the same as saying that they don’t like people.

Autistic people are individuals and this will vary from person to person. Some things are somewhat more obvious: the unstructured ‘coffee after church’ session or too much light or sound can all cause information/sensory overload which is difficult to handle. Expectations of ’sharing the peace’ with people in the middle of a service might also be difficult for some. For others the impact might be more subtle: the (perceived) nonsensical wording of a song or the difficulty in finding anyone who will take seriously the questions they have about the Bible.

Top of the list is better understanding of autism. A group or setting in which their ‘real problems’ with the Bible can be addressed is also on the list. Sometimes there is a need for recognition of ‘floating’, managing attendance or non-attendance in order to avoid overload, and then the recognition that they may be ‘missing out’ on many activities assumed to be those that nourish and support people.