In this episode of Autistica, hosts Dr. Angela Lauria and Matt Lowry, LPP reframe Hans Christian Andersen—not as the “awkward, difficult” writer he’s often portrayed to be, but as a figure whose life and work reflect Autistic culture.
🎧 What You’ll Learn:
- How Andersen’s special interests, social struggles, and speech differences align with Autistic traits.
- Why stories like The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, and The Princess and the Pea resonate so strongly with Autistic experiences of difference, masking, and sensory sensitivity.
- How sensory seeking and avoiding show up in both Andersen’s life and his fairytales.
- Why direct communication, existential loneliness, and intense friendships (like his troubled bond with Charles Dickens) are part of the Autistic lens.
- Matt’s critique of exposure therapy and why Autistics don’t “habituate” the way allistics do—making sensitivity a trait, not a flaw.
- Angela’s personal reflection on The Princess and the Pea as a story that validated her own sensitivity and reframed it as special.
- How Andersen’s work, viewed through Autistic culture, provides representation, validation, and connection across generations.
Resources:
Related Episodes:
Beauty and the Beast is Autistic
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