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What Brings Autistic People Joy? New research showcases the diversity in autistic flourishing.

V

VictorR

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KEY POINTS

Autistic people report experiencing intense joy in ways connected to autistic traits.

Passionate interests, deep focus and learning, and sensory experiences can bring profound joy.

The biggest barriers to autistic joy are mistreatment by other people and societal biases, not autism itself.

Key Findings? Yes, Autistic People Experience Joy. Autistically.

67% of participants said they often experience joy.

94% agreed that they “actively enjoy aspects of being autistic.”

80% believed they experience joy differently than non-autistic people.

This study challenges the pathology model's view of autism as purely a disorder or deficit. Instead, it supports what many autistic people have been saying for a long time: Autism can be a source of genuine strength and joy.

This study strengthens the neuroaffirming perspective on autism and challenges dehumanizing stereotypes. Autistic people are complete human beings with an extremely broad range of emotions, including intense, profound joy—along with deep pain of being excluded, ridiculed, and bullied. When we are accepted, when our environments reflect consideration of sensory needs and honor neurodignity, we don't just survive, we truly flourish.
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Article (summary):
What Brings Autistic People Joy?

Article (original):
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2025.2498417
 
I find accomplishment brings me joy. I also get joy from time with people who are close to me and time spent in nature doing fun activities.
 
I get so much joy out of my own little worlds that I get lost in. I find my own mind endlessly entertaining.

I also get joy from exploring my curiosity and looking at the world with wonder.
 
I would definitely say I experience intense joy around interests and hobbies, and I do think we experience it more deeply than neurotypicals, who can think it's strange to be so joyous. ..I will find myself joyous over creative things: over a cartoon I've just read, so I'll have to read it again and again because it makes me so happy; or joyous about some bit of a you tube that strikes me; or I'll find myself reading the same poem so many times I can't unread it....and every time I go back to it it will make me joyous again. I find repetition an expression of joy and build it into my day to put songs on repeat or to read and reread some piece of writing that I love, or to create things repetitively. Sadly as people point out the neurotypical world regards our joy as strange or destructive. I remember once I was waiting at a stop light and a young man, around 14, was standing on the street corner playing drums on the streetlamp, laughing like all get out to some imaginary song, IBut his mother ran over and yanked him away, even though he was getting to have so much joy and wasn't hurting anyone. I don't see neurotypical people having the kind of joy we get to have, and I consider myself lucky, because of it, because even though I have struggled A-LOT, even during the worst times I've had joyous experiences that came from my passions and persuasions that got me to the other side.
 
Nothing gives me more fun than solving a real life puzzle, more complex more satisfying. Boy do I like watching a video on the latest findings in physics,
 
RemyZee said:
I would definitely say I experience intense joy around interests and hobbies, and I do think we experience it more deeply than neurotypicals, who can think it's strange to be so joyous. ..I will find myself joyous over creative things: over a cartoon I've just read, so I'll have to read it again and again because it makes me so happy; or joyous about some bit of a you tube that strikes me; or I'll find myself reading the same poem so many times I can't unread it....and every time I go back to it it will make me joyous again. I find repetition an expression of joy and build it into my day to put songs on repeat or to read and reread some piece of writing that I love, or to create things repetitively. Sadly as people point out the neurotypical world regards our joy as strange or destructive. I remember once I was waiting at a stop light and a young man, around 14, was standing on the street corner playing drums on the streetlamp, laughing like all get out to some imaginary song, IBut his mother ran over and yanked him away, even though he was getting to have so much joy and wasn't hurting anyone. I don't see neurotypical people having the kind of joy we get to have, and I consider myself lucky, because of it, because even though I have struggled A-LOT, even during the worst times I've had joyous experiences that came from my passions and persuasions that got me to the other side.
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This shows how different we can be from each other I never watch a movie more than once or read a book twice.
 
In No Exit, Sartre described hell as "other people."

I'd revise that to "While hell is other people, joy is intensely personal."

That makes joy quite accessible to autistic folk.
 
I get by mostly with small doses of joy. A walk in the local arboretum when the small yellow birds are eating the sunflower seeds is what is getting me by lately.

Larger doses of joy are when I complete a large project - that happiness lasts for a while before easing back into the status quo. I haven't had that since I finished my graduate program.
 
Finishing a project can be a relief, but I don't remember any joy. It starts off as a shining vision, and ends up as a collection of imperfections that I couldn't improve on. Usually, I wish I could start over with a better plan, but I don't have time. The list of to-dos re-appears like a mountain, and my head is still full of useless details about the past project.
 
Shevek said:
Finishing a project can be a relief, but I don't remember any joy. It starts off as a shining vision, and ends up as a collection of imperfections that I couldn't improve on. Usually, I wish I could start over with a better plan, but I don't have time. The list of to-dos re-appears like a mountain, and my head is still full of useless details about the past project.
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Did you enjoy working like most people say they do?
 
maleonolo said:
Did you enjoy working like most people say they do?
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I thought most people complain about their jobs. When the occasional lottery winner says they are not quitting work, there is general puzzlement. However, yes, I do enjoy the process when I'm in the middle of a job, and getting a series of wins to figure out how to make progress. That has been more frequent than a run of mistakes, which gets depressing.

"We don't do this because it is easy.
We do it because we Thought it would be easy."
 
Shevek said:
I thought most people complain about their jobs. When the occasional lottery winner says they are not quitting work, there is general puzzlement. However, yes, I do enjoy the process when I'm in the middle of a job, and getting a series of wins to figure out how to make progress. That has been more frequent than a run of mistakes, which gets depressing.

"We don't do this because it is easy.
We do it because we Thought it would be easy."
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Is stress your motivation to work or is it partly a matter of routine?
 
When I was younger I'd feel an almost erotic joy in my hobbies and projects.
Usually I felt that way while hyperfocused on the process. Once completed, a bit of a letdown. On to the next!
It's been a long time since I have felt that. Something got burnt out along the way.
Now I just do stuff. Because- what else can I do?
 
maleonolo said:
Is stress your motivation to work or is it partly a matter of routine?
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Neither. I work to improve the world using my creativity. Sometimes it is indirect - trying to earn money to support myself in those endeavours without making the world much worse in the process.
 
Accomplishment probably tops my list.

Successfully completing a project brings me great joy. I suppose that is because my "projects" are a passion for me. Thus, successful completion is the fruition of all that passion. Extremely elating.

I also gain joy from witnessing other peoples success from difficult projects. (When I say other people, I mean all other people regardless of species. I consider all living things people.) I love movies, books, stories, etc. along that line regardless if it is true or fiction. Movies like: Joy, Eddie the Eagle, Pursuit of Happiness, House With a Clock in its Walls, Oz The Great and Powerful, and many more.

The movie Joy came out in 2015. I was so elated that I went out and bought a Joy mop and gave it to my wife. She loves it saying it is the absolute best ever. It has been used routinely ever since (10 years) and is still like new.

Recently, I gained great joy watching a skunk expend great effort pushing, pulling, trying different angles to move a rock that was blocking it's path - a rock much bigger and heavier than the skunk. I was so happy to see he or she never gave up. Inch by inch, that rock got moved - path cleared. (made me cry.)
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
This shows how different we can be from each other I never watch a movie more than once or read a book twice.
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I am curious about that; Do you also listen to any piece of music only once?

One of the reasons I watch a movie is enjoyment. If I enjoyed it the first time, I want to enjoy it again - and again.
 
Music I listen to on the radio when travelling, lately no radio just chatting with wife. Do not like the current music
to much fooling around. elevator music. Occasionally I will hear a song like driving to Florida can instantly tell it will be a hit up here is a month or two. So as we get home buy CD. Then wife takes it puts it in car shops cranks it up. She likes my taste. Now buying good stuff for my granddaughter two years old loves music. If it is good she can instantly tell Son tell me if she is doing something crying being cranky this stops it instantly. Gave her Dark side of the moon on her birthday. I like playing music over If I like it my wife gets carried away Can no longer listen To meat loaf, as she played it repeatedly. drove me nuts. I love David Lindley Mercury blues when I owned a mercury. Really enjoyed driving up and down, Yonge street years ago with my gorgeous blonde wife. only good song on this Cd. My stereo will shake house if I like song. David Wilcox hypnotizing boogie.
 
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