neurotypical brains tend to dismiss small details that might detract from the “big picture” their brain believes it sees.[64] Metaphorically, when a neurotypical person sees a “forest,” their minds start glossing over the dead, bare trees and clumps of hedges that complicate the view.[65] In contrast, Autistic people perceive all the individual trees, and stumps, and rotting animal carcasses. The thousands of small features don’t effortlessly combine into something larger for us,[66] so we have to process all of it separately.
