It's the common "knowledge' that autistics have no feelings or lack empathy largely because Baron-Cohen, a guy with a Doctorate,
has proved, by studying children as if they were mice, that autistics lack empathy or
imagination and that we are all little robots. (/snark)
I
just do not approve of his methods. It's extremely unscientific to
study undeveloped humans (toddlers) and then assume that one's
assumptions about their behavior must be true, and then that their
emotional development is true of most people with
the same condition. He didn't bother to so much as Voight-Kampf test a
single Aspie. Showing my nerdity with that Literary/film reference to a
fictional test supposed to be used to check for empathy, as humaniform
robots lack that human quality... but seriously, all it would take is to
ASK an Aspie, "If someone accidentally hurts their hand and is crying,
how do you feel about it?" Most of us will tell you we'd be extremely concerned for the person who is hurt, and probably awkwardly offer help.
The
assumption that Autism= lack of empathy and inability to intuit what
others are thinking is because of Baron-Cohen's famous Theory Of Mind ...er,
theory. It's true to a certain extent, but not the way everyone thinks,
and we [autistics] certainly do not lack empathy (generally speaking, and as far as I have ever experienced. Being autistic, I consider that some distance). He
assumed the lack of "correct" expression of empathy means the lack of
empathy. If I had no idea how other people think I would not be a
fiction writer known to my friends for "great characterization" nor
would my friends seek me out for interpersonal advice because of my
"perceptive abilities with people". I just have a blind spot if I'm the
one doing the interacting.
Appearing to Lack Empathy is hardly ever what it looks like, in the case of autism:
People
seem to just not Get how overly logical an autistic mind can be.
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