From Lisa Jo Rudy at about.com, a really interesting piece that I'm sure others might want to weigh in on. What's your experience? Let us know.
Recently, the Autism at About.com Facebook community has been chatting about the topic of empathy. Do people with autism really have less empathy than people withOUT autism?
It's a topic I'm presently researching for an article - and a question that is hard to answer. After all, what is empathy really: an ability to actually feel what others feel? An ability to sympathize strongly enough with others that you reach out to help? Or - perhaps - an ability to know that you SHOULD feel for and with others, combined with the ability to express those appropriate feelings verbally?
Which brings up a topic I've been pondering recently: how different, really, is the high functioning autistic experience from that of typically developing individuals? Are the differences as deep and absolute as they're sometimes portrayed? Or are they more about how we express what we understand, feel, and want?
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I'm an aspie and my lack of empathy shows in that I don't often think of anyone other than myself. For eample, when my mother shops, she usually gets me something. When I shop, I don't think of her.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Daru. Do you think it's that way for all Aspie's?
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