Empathy
It has been said by many that autistic people don’t have empathy.
In my experience this is not the case. I feel I have too much empathy. Seeing innocent people or animals hurt/in pain/suffering causes me distress. When I was child, I was made fun of for crying when I saw Tom being put in an oven by Jerry who to me, looked overjoyed at what he was doing. This was just a cartoon and I was so upset. I can’t watch horror films, it is just too much right there in my face at once.
As I have grown up, I have learned to shut those feelings of empathy off so I don’t feel anything and therefore don’t show any emotions that people expect me to show. I don’t know how I do the shutting off, it is like I tell myself, “Don’t feel anything”. I guess it could be similar to ignoring a person that is talking to you.
However, in some cases where other people would show emotions, I would not because I don’t understand the concept. An example of this was pretend play. I couldn’t understand showing emotions or feelings for something that was not real.
Filed by renaeden at January 24th, 2008 under Autism and me...
I do not think that all autistic people don’t empathy either. Sometimes I think I have too much of it too. When it gets too much I don’t have to shut it off because my head gets very loud and blocks it out. Not sure which is worse.
Comment by Lori — January 25, 2008 @ 7:13 pm