With the caveat that one can both be on the spectrum and be d/Deaf, which has been researched by Aaron Shield and Richard P. Meier, the primary difference for those of us who are Deaf but not autistic can best be understood by the following paragraph.
Deaf people value clear, straightforward communication, just as autistics do. However, Deaf people, owing to our unique linguistic differences that you can learn more about on the Deaf culture and deafness info page of my Web site, Deaf communication has more mentalization. Now, we are known for our verbosity, for our love of storytelling, which is hyper-mentalization. Persons on the autism spectrum typically have no or very low levels of mentalization, but that’s not their fault: they’re wired that way.
We Deaf allistic (i.e., non-autistic) people do not deserve to have our culture and language pathologized even more. We are already the subject of speech-language pathology.
It’s extraordinarily inappropriate to pathologize Deaf communication behavior and conflate it with autistics. We Deaf people are already the subjects of extensive speech language pathology.
My communication style is often formal and academic because I am a product of Deaf Academia. Additionally, because of my physical disabilities, I am very isolated. Some of it is a free choice or driven by anxiety because I’m used to not having full community or higher education access, but a lot of it’s not.
Further Reading/Viewing About the Autism Spectrum.
- Gnaulati, Enrico. “That’s not autism: It’s simply a brainy, introverted boy”. Salon.Com,
sponsored by Find.co. 21 September 2013. Web. 9 October 2025 - Marks, Tracey. “BPD and Autism: The Overlapping Symptoms“. YouTube:
@DrTraceyMarks. 27 September 2024. Web. 9 October 2025. - Marks, Tracey. “Autism Spectrum Disorder – Understanding the Sensory Crisis“.
YouTube: @DrTraceyMarks. 10 April 2019. Web. 9 October 2025.
Last Updated: 9 Oct 2025