Low Empathy In Autism Is Often Misunderstood. I Want To Explain It With Some Examples Here To Hopefully

low empathy in autism is often misunderstood. i want to explain it with some examples here to hopefully help you understand how it can affect people (this is how it affects me)

low empathy actually looks like: i don’t understand that what’s fun for me might not be fun for you. i might think i’m sharing Good Feelings with you by telling you about something i love or making you play my favorite game with me, and not realize that you’re not enjoying it because i have a hard time distinguishing that people interpret and enjoy things differently. i might be confused or upset when you don’t want to hear about something that makes me very happy, because it doesn’t make you as happy as it makes me and that’s hard for me to grasp. it is hard for me to put myself in your shoes and consider that other people might not get the same excitement and joy that i get out of these things. conversely, i might refuse to participate in something most people enjoy and come off as a “buzzkill” or self centered because i don’t understand that other people enjoy something that only makes me upset. i may be confused as to why everyone is engaging in something so upsetting or simply boring, like watching sports or listening to music that i don’t want to hear.

low empathy does NOT actually look like: i don’t understand that other people have feelings and therefore, i do things that i know are wrong because i don’t care about how my actions affect other people, or don’t understand THAT they affect other people. i am mean and rude because i don’t think it has any consequences (as opposed to being rude without realizing it, which is related to social skills, not empathy)