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Autism
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‘Here’s the Weavery Looming Up’

Verbal Humour in a Woman with High-Functioning Autism

Abigail Werth

Community Health South London NHS Trust, UK

Michael Perkins

University of Sheffield, UK, m.perkins{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Jill Boucher

University of Warwick, UK

A case study of Grace, a 29-year-old woman with high- functioning autism, is presented. Grace is unusual for a person with autism in that she produces a great deal of humorous and creative word play. She is also unusual in that she writes and then audio-records ‘letters’ to her family, and produces copious cartoon-like drawings which she annotates, with the result that multiple examples of her humour are available in permanent form. We present examples of Grace’s use of puns, jokes, neologisms, ‘portmanteau’ words, irreverent humour, irony, sarcasm and word play based on her obsessional interests. The examples are used to illustrate the forms and content of Grace’s humour, and are discussed in relation to current theories of autism and of normal humour.

Key Words: Asperger syndrome • autism • creativity • verbal humour • word play

Autism, Vol. 5, No. 2, 111-125 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/1362361301005002002
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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]