| ▲ | ants_everywhere a day ago | |
> The person you described likely has a deficit in empathy Sorry, but I have to correct this because it's a common misunderstanding. It's actually a name collision. People on the autism spectrum struggle with theory of mind, which is also called "cognitive empathy." We can have difficulty understanding the mental states and emotions of others. On they other hand, we're often higher than average on what's called "emotional empathy" or "affective empathy." Many autistic people get very distressed when others are unhappy or are suffering. For example, autistic folks are over-represented in the animal rights movements and other movements to reduce suffering. Somebody who lacks empathy in the everyday use of the word is someone who does not care if others are suffering. That is not a symptom of autism, and never has been going back to the start of research on the topic. | ||
| ▲ | xp84 a day ago | parent | next [-] | |
Thank you for your productive addition to this conversation! Hearing from adults who can better put into words what the autistic experience is like is so, so helpful to me. | ||
| ▲ | Cthulhu_ 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | |
To add, newer ish research also posits the Double Empathy Problem [0], which (I think?) boils down to basic miscommunication / misunderstanding. However, it feels like it's often considered the autistic person's job to adjust and fit in. | ||
| ▲ | VHRanger a day ago | parent | prev [-] | |
I don't disagree with you and I agree that the stereotype of autistic people as lacking empathy is harmful and generally untrue. HOWEVER - the person I was replying to was mentioning them being hurt by the behaviors, and that signals a lack of empathy from the individual doing thise actions. Even apart from behavioral disorders, there's comorbidities -- autism is comorbid with ADHD and ADHD is highly comorbid with a lot of conduct disorders and personality disorders. So it could be any of that. But my basic point is that for the person I'm replying to all of this complexity simplifies if you instead focus on the effect of the other person's behaviors on you. That's what you have control over. | ||