Context blindness and autism

The contention that inability to appreciate context – context blindness – is likely to be a common factor across the autistic spectrum was put forward by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell in 2007. They based their argument around the fact that premature brain changes in the autistic brain affect connections between certain brain areas, crucially affecting ability to distribute attention. Context blindness (which they originally termed caetextia) is the inability to maintain separate streams of attention and switch easily between them to keep track of multiple interconnecting variables – which most people can do effortlessly.¹

Griffin and Tyrrell posit that this is a dominant manifestation of behaviour in the mildest form of autism (previously termed Asperger’s syndrome and now known as level 1 autism), leading to one of two modes of mental operation: logical, ‘straight-line’ thinking or making connections through random associations.

Their insights have given many individuals, families and health professionals a better understanding of how context blindness can affect thinking and behaviour. There are also significant implications for the worlds of business and politics, and organisations as a whole, which may operate from a stance of context blindness, affecting outcomes for society at large.

See pages 205–222 in Griffin, J and Tyrrell, I (2024) Human Givens: an empowering approach to emotional health and clear thinking. HG Publishing.