Empathy quotient

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I used to be like that when I was a child and to a lesser extent, adolescent. You will change as you get older and have more "mature" experiences and identify how hard things are for people/your parents.

Defining the meaning of the term is difficult enough. Schizophrenia, Bipolar during disruptive manic phases, forms of dementia, and long term alcohol consumption all have a lack of empathy as a defined symptom, but why the hell does it always return to autism? I am not just asking non-autistic people that, I am asking that to everyone here.

Autism is different though. The defining feature of it is that sometimes we struggle to pick up on cues not that we lack empathy. If we broaden that view to the empathy area what we risk doing is undermining the fact that autistic people are capable of kindness, understanding and relating to one another. I know this from my personal experience in part. I have had deep, meaningful conversations with my autistic friends and have discussed personal issues with them. I learnt something from that, cues aren't everything, its about listening, relating and giving comfort cues are just one of many aspects.

And even if we do say that Autistic people because they are bad at cues, lack empathy that still wouldn't be accurate. As when autistic people grow older they are better able to pick up on verbal and facial cues, the learn through practice.

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But my major problems is not facial recognition issues or working out peoples intentions. My major social problem as an adult (maybe not as a child or teen) is actually being interested in other people in general. Sometime around age 23 or so I stopped noticing other people and went into myself more and more, only focusing on my own desires, obsessions and wants.

And then there is the "moral issue" of my lack of empathy. When I was a preteen I found people with disabilities, illnesses and MR "funny". When a kid with Down Syndrome sat at the lunch table from me I'd begin to laugh.

Of course I don't find any of these amusing as an adult but I can watch refugees on the news trying to flee from their war torn land and I think in the back of my mind "why should we all have to take them?".

What you have said is not so much a sympton of autism I think but is something faced by many people.

Take the refugee crisis for instance, over 30 states have announced that they will not be taking Syrian refugees. If Neurotypicals are meant to have more empathy like so say than wouldn't the USA have thousands more them already?

Again this can be shown with disabilities as well. Last year in fact, I saw an autistic boy from a disabled school visiting a swimming pool with the schol I was in. When that happened the neurotypicals took to laughing and poking fun at him. That was a lack of empathy displayed by a not so small number of neurotypicals.

What you have mentioned exactly at the top is a problem. When we come under the assumption that autistic people lack empathy what happens is that we may become convinced of it, because small attributes seem to match up with it.