Autism's confusing cousins

Some casual unscientific research - a question to my fellow autistic HN contributors:

Do you have a "mind's eye" - that is, can you close your eyes, and voluntarily visualise mental images?

If you can't, you have a condition called "Aphantasia"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

When I found out about aphantasia, I was fascinated. I'd always imagined that "mind's eye" was a metaphor. I never knew it was literal, and that most of the population are able to visualise imagery in their head.

Could there be a link beteen aphantasia and autism?

Since I'm unable to visualise the faces (and thus expressions) of people, maybe this contributes to my lack of empathy and ability to predict other people's emotional state.

If you have autism, do you also have aphantasia?

Interesting! I'm autistic and I'm the complete opposite! I've always been super artistic, and usually visualize what I design/draw in my head before it ever hits paper/screen. It blew my mind when I learned about aphantasia.