this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
317 points (97.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27253 readers
1936 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

One that comes to mind for me: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is not always true. Maybe even only half the time! Are there any phrases you tend to hear and shake your head at?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes yes, I'm well aware that people can define "empathy" in many different ways to make their point. But honestly, "Autistic people don't feel empathy" is pretty much a dogwhistle for "They're broken and I'm better than them". Autistic communication and non-autistic communication are different and neither are "right" or "wrong".

Also, interestingly the criteria for autism doesn't actually mention empathy: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/assessment-and-diagnosis/criteria-and-tools-used-in-an-autism-assessment

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 3 points 4 months ago

Ehh... The autistic and academic communities have been butting heads for a while. Academia has a rich history of marginalising and dehumanising those that they consider "lesser", and I have no reason to beleive that we've moved past that.

Autistic and non-autistic brains work in different ways. And it's hard for one type to understand the other. Usually called the "double empathy problem" ( https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy ). And because neurotypical people have problems reading autistic people, they assume that the person they're reading must lack "something".

In addition, all the tools that academics use to measure the worth of a person tend to be tailered to a specific type of person. You can see it with IQ tests; once racism went from being normal to being frowned upon, scientists had to scramble to figure out why Africans suddenly started seeming to be characterised as intellectually deficient.

Being gay also used to be a disability, but now it isn't. It's not unreasonable to assume that in 10 years autism will be the same.

Personally, my experiences have been that I have too much empathy. Other people's suffering hurts me so much more than my neurotypical friends. I think this is a common autistic trait ("hyper-empathy") other people have. I have theories on how this all relates to their reactions to emotional stimulus, but this post is already too long.

... Of course, there is a group of people who think that Academia is Law and that things aren't true unless they're in a journal. If you're that kind of person, I doubt my hearsay is convincing, but I figure it might interest people travelling this thread.