Do Autistic People Have No Empathy?

[HorrendousHexapod]

I recently came across a video discussing both autistic people and empaths which discusses a study from 2023. In the video, the guy presenting it, a psychologist, says the following:

“Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) fail to develop empathy via mentalization (a Theory of Mind). They feel no guilt or embarrassment (they have no conscience). They avoid being shamed after they have transgressed.”

Is this an accurate assessment of us, or is it misleading?

Here is the video, and here is the study for anyone curious:

https://academic.oup.com/chidev/article/94/4/e181/8255250?login=false

 

[Tired]

All people are different.

 

[TBRS1]

That false belief was trashed around the same time they stopped blaming Ice cube mothers for autism.

When people actually talk WITH (as opposed to talking AT, or ABOUT) autistic people, the claim is immediately exposed as false.

 

[Judge]

Another misconception and stereotype.

We have it, but if not projected visually or verbally in a way that is meaningful to NTs, it can easily be construed as not being there at all, which of course is not true for most if not all of us.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

Did they consider the possibility that the atypical responses to the broken toy distress could have been due to seeing through the act or at least detecting something not quite right about the situation? Why would they show guilt if they knew they did not break it?

 

[Judge]

Did they consider the possibility that the atypical responses to the broken toy distress could have been due to seeing through the act or at least detecting something not quite right about the situation?

Nope. They are more likely to default to their own thought process in such an instance. Not ours.

However the reciprocal may often take place as well. Can't deny how puzzling certain NT responses work to me either.

It's just that far more people are so likely to be conducive to the neurological majority than the neurological minority. And like most any social majority, there is a great amount of indifference towards any minority.

Not a matter of whether or not one thinks in such an instance, but rather how they think to begin with.

Such a discussion reminds me of the instances when I tried to explain such dynamics to NTs and they got lost at the outset, unaware that there are other humans who do not share all their thought processes. When indifference is more a case of the norm than the exception. Leaving so many autistic people at a distinct disadvantage given the mathematical disparity of our numbers.