- Joined
- Dec 20, 2022
Autism can have absence of empathy as a symptom, but it's not guaranteed.
Often what's seen as a lack of empathy in autistic people is one of two things: the first is the individual may be displaying empathetic traits but at a lower social or cognitive level than what you are used to.
Example 1; You*, a 20 year old, are crying. Your autistic, also 20 year old, friend brings you their childhood teddy bear. This is a display of empathy, but it would be much more appropriate for someone who was about three or four years old. This type of age inappropriate empathetic display is more common in autistic people who have an intellectual disability.
*Its an example, you autist.
The other type of empathy might be veiled or emotionally inappropriate.
Example 2: You are walking and not paying attention, and you bang your leg on a piece of furniture, your autistic friends sees this and says " Why did you do that stupid? It doesn't make any sense you're just gonna get hurt!"
This seems rude, but if prompted, and if you ask them about it, they probably weren't trying to be insulting, they were worried, you got hurt, and they don't want you to hurt again, but they're autistic and they don't know how to convey that in a way that comes across compassionate instead of assholish. This person doesn't want you to get hurt but they don't understand how to prioritize your feelings when sending you that message. They may also lack the tact to not blurt out the first thing that zips across their brain when they see someone hurt and they have an emotional response.
Autism is a neurological disorder that deeply impacts the way an individual can understand and navigate social networks, that doesn't necessarily mean a lack of empathy, but it might mean they don't know how to use or display their empathy appropriately.
As far as autism, having a lack of goal directed behavior, that depends on the individual and personality. Chris-Chan was so determined on getting the goal of having a boyfriend free girl that he fucked his own mother. I would argue that he is disgustingly dedicated to his goals.
TL;DR: Lack of empathy can be a symptom in autism but often that symptom is really something else that's being misunderstood.
I feel like I answered this pretty thoroughly above. Autism is very commonly comorbid with other things, but being autistic doesn't guarantee intellectual disability, I feel like this is common knowledge.
I think an important thing that's also missed here is that autistic people often don't just have trouble understanding other people; they may also have trouble understanding themselves and their own feelings. That's actually one of the reasons why it's so easy to groom them into trooning out. They may struggle to understand what they're feeling or why they are feeling that way, and in that confusion, may be more receptive to other people telling them why they feel what they feel and how to "fix" it.
Edits: typos
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