Things I Don't Get

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I'm talking about if both the autistic and the NT say the same insult for the same reason.

I don't think it's fair to keep throwing the word empathy around on an autism forum, because it's a sore subject for some of us.

A user could be really good at offering comfort and understanding in the haven but the same user could be gaslighting in other threads in other subforums. It's not fair to say they lack empathy just because they don't agree with you.

Uh, I could go on and on about this empathy s**t but I think I've derailed this thread enough. A more appropriate thread to talk about this is the recent empathy thread in GAD.

I think I've mentioned before that empathy isn't all or nothing. I know that. But it's just the way it's often discussed, and it frustrates me.

When NTs don't understand something (as in being unable to consider the feelings of autistic people, for instance) the word empathy doesn't get brought up.

And then people often say that empathy isn't a good thing and that any affectionate empathy we as autistics feel is compassion not empathy. And then the word empathy gets misunderstood and misused.

I've explained it already in the empathy thread in GAD, I'm becoming exhausted with keep explaining the same thing over and over.

I’ve heard empathy come up in conversations among NTs all the time. Maybe it just doesn’t come up in conversations with people you know personally. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.

We tend to have in-depth conversations on here, so you might see it more often than with people offline in casual conversations.