I notice this with a lot of autistic people, including myself.

There’s two “accents,” actually.

One of them is kind of growly, for lack of a better term; like how it sounds when you tense up your lips/when you talk while trying not to move them, if that makes any sense. This could just be sampling error, but this seems to be more of a thing with people who are AFAB.

The other (which, funny enough, seems to skew more towards AMAB people, myself among them, though notice I said seems to skew more towards, so it’s not a 1:1 thing) is almost like a faint British accent. Like you’re a fancy English barrister who lectures at Oxford and you’re learning to talk like a normal person.

Does this make any fucking sense?

Could it have to do with how “well-adjusted” someone is? Like as you’re forced to mask/learn how to pretend to be normal, the awkward British professor thing fades; the growl (which I think I sorta have too, maybe) is a substrate that’s left behind.

Let me know right away if this is complete nonsense so I can be embarrassed and delete it as soon as possible.

  • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I think this was addressed in an Australian episode of Love On The Spectrum and it is speculated that some autistic people model a lot of their speech on American TV / anime.

    • voight [he/him, any]
      ·
      9 months ago

      That's crazy I thought all the other ND people I knew had just happened to develop a Sweeney Todd voice around the same time. This changes everything.