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Understanding autism by an autistic

NAS66305

I hope I can discuss this subject so I can structure my understanding of autism.

am trying to define autism to have a good understanding, can I define autism as:

The lack of understanding one's emotions to a certain extend. 

the definition above is the basis of all autism which sometimes leads to different outcomes.

What do you think? did I get it right?

  • I dont think you can sum autism up in one quick phrase. What you've wrote is one of many different possibilities that an autistic person may struggle with. It's like saying neirotypical people have trouble understanding about autism' not at nt people do

  • there is loads more to this subject than that. Just read any book or posts on this site.

    whybarevyou asking?

  • I think that would describe one part of autism for many of us - psychologists call it "alexithymia" (literally "no words for feelings"). But I think there's far more to autism than that, and not all autistic people have that trait very strongly, or even at all. It's something which people with other conditions can have too, or even just part of some people's personality in a milder form. I certainly have it very strongly, though; and looking back, I think it has caused a lot of problems in my life - including with counselling for mental health problems; they'd ask me how I feel, and all I could say was; "I dunno".

    It may even be more of a "side-effect" of autism rather than a built-in part of it - because other parts of our brain might not "see" some kinds of communication, or our senses might work in unusual ways. To read our own emotions properly, we must be able to "feel" the bodily sensations that they cause, and to learn what they mean by comparing with other people when we're growing up. I actually got a bit better at it after some training with a counsellor, who taught me some things about "listening" to my own body - for example; to check my breathing and pulse to test how stressed out I am, which I often didn't used to notice at all (even though other people could tell!)