Narcissism as The Next ASD

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Well...having an attitude of superiority is essentially a narcissistic trait, but it doesn't necessarily make the person "a narcissist" in the sense of having a personality disorder. It's also not automatically bad to have some narcissistic traits, it can be healthy and even necessary to some extent.

People with NPD for the most part DO want to participate in the system of social status and have a high status within it. They don't want to opt out of it, because that would mean losing the frame of reference that allows them to view themselves as superior to others.

Narcissists don't have strong identities...they have a very weak sense of who they are, typically because they had a (narcissistic) parent who didn't nurture them to have their own sense of identity. They develop a false construct of who they think they are, and they need to have it mirrored back to them pretty much constantly because it's not stable. However to accomplish this, most project themselves as having rather strong personalities.

Vice versa, an autistic person can have a strong inner identity, but a weak - or let's not say weak, shall we say subtle - projection of personality...due to slow social processing, an unexpressive face or body language, not initiating or reciprocating social gestures, etc. This can be like a blank canvas to a person who wants something to project on.

What's more, autistic people might mirror the literal, surface behavior of other people as a coping mechanism for social impairment, without necessarily understanding the underlying intent or implications of that behavior.

Narcissists basically view other people as extensions of themselves, and they generally want to have people around them who can mirror them in some way. They like to be around people who give them feedback that reinforces their idealized view of themselves. They like to have people around to use as minions or flying monkeys. They also like to see their own idealized traits in other people (but not too much, because they don't want to be outdone!) They may designate someone as a "mini-me" or golden child.

However, ultimately what they really need is someone to use as a scapegoat for the things they can't face in themselves. This is actually just another form of mirroring, but it becomes projection because it's what they deny in themselves. Pretty much anyone (except maybe the mini-me or golden child) is viewed as a potential scapegoat...and I mean, probably from the first minute they clap eyes on you, on some level they are calculating your potential for that. They take note of a person's vulnerabilities and weaknesses, and file this information away for later use.

Autistic people can be prime targets for scapegoating in general, because first off because social impairments can make a person oblivious or slow to catch on to what is happening...second, autistic behavior can be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted...and third, autists tend to be outsiders or outliers to social groups, or even iconoclasts, and may not have a secure social standing within a group.