Better Communication Skills

I am curious what kind of communication skills does this (or any other) EDP teach when dealing with verbally/physically abusive people. These are good tips when you are dealing with reasonable people who are relatively open-minded. But not everyone is that way.

It may be hard to imagine, but there are people who do not respond positively to these skills. In fact, using them with a person who is like that is like pouring gasoline on a fire. They are playing a power game and there is only one response.

I will give you two examples from theater (I do a little acting on the side). In the play "Annie", the orphanage is run by the tyrannical, alcoholic Miss Hannigan. There are only two responses Miss Hannigan wants to hear and will accept from her little charges, and that is "Yes, Miss Hannigan," and "We love you, Miss Hannigan." Anything else is insubordination and is instantly and cruelly punished. Miss Hannigan can get away with this because she has free rein over the orphanage. The orphans have literally no one to turn to.

The second is the court scene from "To Kill A Mockingbird." Tom Robinson, an African-American, is on trial for his life, having been accused of raping a white woman. The play takes place in the 1930's South. During the trial, Tom is asked to give his version of events, which naturally contradicts the alleged victim's. "Are you telling me that she is lying, Boy?" the prosecuting attorney sneers. "No," says Tom, "not lying, just mistaken in her head." Even then, he is on very dangerous grounds, because a black man at that time and place simply did not cast any doubt whatsoever on the word of a white person. No amount of communication skills could have saved Tom Robinson because as another character observed, as soon as the accused woman screamed rape, "Tom Robinson was a dead man."

I realize these are extreme cases, taken from fiction; however, I suspect that we on the spectrum are more likely to find ourselves in abusive/manipulative situations where conventional conversational skills will not work. Any training that does not take this into account is inadequate at best and misleading at worst.