Re: Article: Asperger's theory ... quite long!

[Guest guest]

Hi Ron,

Good post!

Just one clarification before I continue: The article was posted in in the

Toronto Star in 2009, so while one could rightly call it relatively new

research, it's not new, new

What follows, Ron, will look familiar to you, but now that I've had time to edit

it..

In my opinion, in context of the subject matter, the author seems to have made a

common mistake, having confused the word " empathy " with " sympathy " or " sensitive

to " or simply " caring. " But it was still a good article.

Most folks whether AS or NT, do care about the welfare of one another! But

that's not the same as being able to intuit the moods, feelings and motivations

of others.

Generally speaking, most women, biologically wired to " tend and befriend " for

the survival of the tribe, are better at intuiting the feelings of others than

men. Regrettably, so are some con artists, sociopaths and psychopaths. But the

" conscience " component is missing in these latter examples.

In the other group I moderated, one profoundly mind-blind member once said

something to the effect of, " I have empathy, I even cry when I see cartoon

animals get hurt. " What she was doing, but I didn't say it, was

anthropomorphizing. (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism)

But it was good that she does care!

I am sure that people like her *do* are deeply about others, and feel pain when

they see graphic representations of suffering. Yet, paradoxically, they seem

completely insensitive to the needs and feelings of the fellow human being

standing right beside them.

What's happening there is the real live human is telegraphing powerful emotions.

This may overwhelm the sensory processing disordered person, and they may shut

down altogether.

A personal lack of frame of reference to another person's issue may be a factor

too. In that case, the *feeling* that was being conveyed with the information

may simply sail right over their heads. With one old friend, unless I am very

direct(eg. " I am feeling sad because...) she may respond (and this really

happened)by giving me a weather report from her part of the country.

Now, some fun stuff:

(one definition of) Empathy

Merriam-Webster

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy

(if you don't accept the validity of Wikipedia, please skip this link. This

article is well sourced though..)

Empathy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

(and a little bit deeper ..)

Empathy

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/empathy/

- Helen

Original thread:

Asperger's theory does about-face

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.

May 14, 2009 Maia Szalavitz

http://www.thestar.com/article/633688