High Empathy??

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I am not quite sure if I have Asperger because though I have most of the symptoms listed on the web including:

-easily frightened by noise/light/touch (I react strongly (I once fell on my knees) if someone tap me on the shoulder unexpectedly. My reaction usually frightens other people)
-withdrawn from social situation
- poor motor skill(fell a lot, poor handwriting which all my teachers complain, I get good grades though)
-dislike eye contact (my mom have taken me to a weird physical therapy for that)
- selective mutiny
-I have no idea how to properly end a phone call, but have no problem ending a conversation during face-to-face interaction.

EXCEPT lack of empathy
I feel that I know exactly how other people feel about me. I always know which teacher likes me/which aspect he/she likes about me and when does his/her impression of me starts to change (people tend to under-estimate me because I don't talk a lot). So I know exactly who should I ask for a recommendation letter. I also feel other people's emotion intensely. I have an urge to cry when a friend is crying in front of me.

You might find this article interesting:


05.11.09

A Radical New Autism Theory

A groundbreaking study suggests people with autism-spectrum disorders such as Asperger’s do not lack empathy—rather they feel others’ emotions too intensely to cope.

People with Asperger’s syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is in fact a response to being overwhelmed by emotion—an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?

This idea resonates with many people suffering from autism-spectrum disorders and their families. It also jibes with new thinking about the nature of autism called the “intense world” theory. As posited by Henry and Kamila Markram of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, suggests that the fundamental problem in autism-spectrum disorders is not a social deficiency, but rather an hypersensitivity to experience, which includes an overwhelming fear response.

“I can walk into a room and feel what everyone is feeling. The problem is that it all comes in faster than I can process it.”

“There are those who say autistic people don’t feel enough,” says Kamila Markram. “We’re saying exactly the opposite: They feel too much.” Virtually all people with ASD report various types of oversensitivity and intense fear. The Markrams argue that social difficulties of those with ASDs stem from trying to cope with a world where someone has turned the volume on all the senses and feelings up past 10. If hearing your parents’ voices while sitting in your crib felt like listening to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music on acid, you, too, might prefer to curl in a corner and rock.

read full article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/05/11/a-radical-new-autism-theory.html

Simply put people with Aspergers lack "demonstrated" empathy,they have it but can't act upon it in real life situations. Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" does not know how to cope with someones emotional distress,so he uses the social convention of offering them a hot beverage, relieving himself of the stress of not knowing how to comfort people in a neurotypical way.