Stupid 'experts'

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Say we don't recognize others have minds.say we have no empathy. ASK US!DON"T SAY SOMETHING ABOUT SOMEONE WITHOUT ASKING THEM!

Well, when I was a kid I didn't realise people had thoughts of their own that differed to mine, and I didn't feel nor show that much empathy to other people. So while what they say might not apply to you or more higher functioning people, it was true for me and many like me.

It's not just as black and white as 'lacks empathy' and experts know this. They just need to elaborate to those people who take what they say at face value.

It's not so much affective empathy, but there are deficits with cognitive empathy in those with ASD, whether that be mild or severe is another story.

A large part of it has to do with not picking up and/or understanding social cues. I have read many stories where an ASD person will be blamed for being cold where they do not identify a person as, for example, being sad or any reason why they would be sad (cognitive empathy), but when they realize the person was sad, they do feel sad (affective empathy).

The problem is, the person with ASD is technically being 'cold' and will inevitably give off that vibe to others in these circumstances. Even if they mean well, if they don't know someone is sad (nor realize any reason for them to be), affective empathy won't be displayed.

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Unapologetically, Norny.
-chronically drunk

It's not their fault if you do not undersand their theories. You need to read the papers.

I think the "lack of empathy" that experts relate to autism is correctly described as "lacking the ability to show empathy." When I was younger, I had no idea to to pick up social cues and act certain ways based on what the people I was interacting with were feeling. After a lot of special ed and childhood therapy, I have a sense of empathy that is more learned than innate. I have learned how to recognize how different behaviors in people relate to certain emotions. Also, I have learned how to behave based on how I have been taught to act when people are showing the signs of a certain experience or emotion. It takes me a lot of extra thought and time to know how to act empathetic than it probably would be for most NTs who are hardwired to recognize emotions and read social cues more easily. I have learned how to treat people based on their situations because I don't want to hurt them. I may not be able to directly put myself in another's shoes, but I can draw conclusions on what they are experiencing and how they are feeling based on details in their behavior. My brain then processes these details and I can determine how to act on them based on what I have learned.

I think my empathetic ability is all over the place.

Some days I have have too much, which is probably a result of my mood disorder. Sometimes a really high mood can bring up these feelings and knowledge about other people I can't always access.

Sometimes it's hard for me to feel for people even when made aware that I should. A lot of the time I think people just pour on the expressive empathy even when they don't mean it. It's like it's all an act.

Then my affective empathy can be very narrow focused. When it comes to political issues I seem to focus all my attention on issues that directly affect me in some ways when other people are showing concern for those issues that may not even affect them. It's very hard for me to feel for people going through things I don't experience.

I don't actually agree that NT lack empathy compared to autistics. That's just a huge generalization and I'm in a very literal mood right now. If you know every NT on the planet and have a large body of evidence that they do indeed lack more empathy compared to autistic people, then maybe I'll consider it. But I doubt that's the case.

I remember what I was like as a child and I really didn't care about others. Yes, I didn't always realise what was going on with them and that they didn't have a mind that worked exactly like my own. But even now when I'm made aware when I should care it's still very difficult for me to. I didn't even care when my sister's friend committed suicide. I was actually dealing with my own suicidal thoughts so I was a bit preoccupied. Sometimes I just don't care about peoples issues. I don't want to be involved. It could because emotions are overwhelming to me.
I just know times where NT's have more empathy than me, an autistic person I must add. It's more like I focus my attention on very narrow things usually that relate to me. When I care about an issue I'm a very fierce advocate, but when I don't you can tell that I don't. I don't have any opinion for or against. There's no emotion. My fellow activist friends tend to go on about certain issues and they barely phase me. Oh, but mention pension cuts and I'll join right in. It's not like those people are affected by those changes...yet they're so committed to fighting against them it's almost as though it were happening to them. Oh, that's empathy? Right.

Sometimes I'm just too damned honest even if it makes me look like a bad person.