Did being autistic make you more tolerant?

It is important to note that being autistic does not necessarily make someone more tolerant or less tolerant than others. Autism is a neurological condition that affects individuals in different ways and to different degrees. While some people with autism may have difficulty with social interactions and communication, they may also have unique strengths and abilities in other areas, such as attention to detail and pattern recognition.

There's a huge  diversity of outlooks and opinions within Neurodiversity.  Perhaps even as much range as there is amongst NT's.  When i first joined wrongplanet about 20 years ago i was shocked as i did not readily identify with people there.

Personally I don’t see a link between tolerance and ND-NT. Thrres ample evidence of intolerance here in this community unfortunately. 

Definitely throughout my life I’ve been what I’ve perceived as benefit of the doubt giver, a diplomat, and permanent grudges have seemed irrational to me except in the most extreme of circumstances. 

However, it’s also made me (certainly in NT people’s eyes, some of my own family’s views, and sometimes -on my worst days-  even my own perception) a bit of a doormat. I’m not innately assertive, I’ll hold a door open for five people in a row (a metaphor for my broader way of being) or let three cars turn onto the road in front instead of one - usually earning horn blasts from behind. That sort of thing. I’ve always ‘finished last’ in many realms so at least I have the comfort of knowing that I have the cliched ‘nice guy (mostly)’ part of that equation to call my own. Though I do find myself getting more sinister and disillusioned over time. The old ‘those things are for other people, I don’t get those because I’m different - outwardly a human cartoon not to be taken seriously- factor is still reflexively in me 90% of the time - it’s very ingrained- but I no longer as often occupy that mode with the lighter, unconditionally accepting spirit I used to have, and instead feel pretty wretched and heavy hearted a lot of the time now. Because the universe has played a couple of cruel tricks on me not too long ago, I can never quite be who I was again. But I don’t want to lose touch with authentic kindness, I think it’s still there - fragile, but present- despite being made the punchline of a few cosmic jokes. I just wish that same kindness could be offered in an outstretched hand by two or three people whose actions - upfront and coldly exiling, or with a smile up front and something much more self-serving and covertly deceptive underneath - have hurt me deeply and left me regularly distressed in my needed but now often tainted private solitude. 

Anyway, the reason I continue to hurt is precisely because I can’t manage that binary switch of ‘good person then but bad person now’. It’s so bizarrely reductive yet near universal. Ties are cut at the drop of a hat because of human imperfection mirrored in the tie-cutter themselves. As much as it makes life  more upsetting, the more standard-issue mode of being makes me shudder. I don’t want to live like the majority- prioritising dignity and pride over empathy and compassion. The latter should override the former in pretty much all situations, but it seems to fall primarily to the neurodiverse to truly know that in their core, not just pay lip service to it as a glimpsed philosophy and whim-based opt-in for rare occasions. 
it’s what makes us generally more open and honest too. But that’s too sane for a world that still presently needs a collective insanity to keep it turning. 

Hi BlendedSpob,

Thanks for sharing this.

Do you consider that "common sense" and "social truth" to be the same thing?

Curious as to me, common sense transcends society, for example it is common sense that you shouldn't eat food with dirty hands because it can spread illness but based on the culture within your society, that could mean use a fork or wash your hands and dig in.

Subtle difference but it just adds another layer to how easy we accept these things and how flexible we should be at accepting changes.

Just curious to your thoughts 

When my OCD hit me, in my late teens, it absolutely made me more tolerant, in some respects. My brain felt like it broke overnight, I was no longer in control, and at the mercy of unrelenting guilt and shame.

Hard not to go through that and be more tolerant, at least, seeing that there is no separation of mind from body, greatly limits what one can expect of people (naivedualism i feel is the cause for a lack of empathy in many, or st least, in myself previously). I feel like I decide what to think, OCD made it very clear this was an illusion.

Whether autism itself has a similar effect, maybe. It's hard to adopt a naive viewpoint of "just make yourself do xzy" in others, when you struggle to do abc yourself. Some degree of tolerance through awareness must occur.

Then, it may very well be that we naturally fall prey less to these kinds of distorted thinking, because we aren't so readily accepting of "social truth", or "common sense". 

There maybe other factors pushing in the other direction  ountering this, but things such as this seem important.

Even in the 1980's when i  was a child.  Things were intolerant.

I have been described as extremely tolerant and accepting of most things/people. I cannot tolerate or accept myself.  Not one bit.

I have learnt there is plenty of room for everything, if you just look hard enough for it. 
I believe this is wired into people, my brother who  is NT isn’t wired the same way that I am.

he hasn’t got room for much, over than himself and he reads the sun..

We grew up in the same house, same parents, same everything. 

I don't think it's being tolerant, just being exepent and understanding that life is different for many, gift ,curse 

I'd agree with that.  Also meeting with intolerance for being different can lead to a strong desire to defend others being picked on, perhaps for reasons other than I was, but nevertheless, when you know how bad that feels, you kind want to prevent that happening to others for any reason

Politically I have moved in the last few years since my diagnosis. The general state of the UK has massivley contributed to that but I am now much more left wing and tolerant of people who may not have as much as me. I still find some groups difficult to deal with, I am still  no less tolerant of children , good job I chose not to have any. Although its more there parents that I am no less tolerant of!

I grew up in the standard racist 1970's working class household. It was nothing vindictive but my parents, and society as a whole, were stereotype casual racists of the era. I still see color, just as I see peoples sex and size, I can still laugh at racist jokes, but believe in live and let live.

I grew more tolerant with age.  By adulthood i was tolerant.

I think it's too difficult to pick apart what exactly makes someone more tolerant than others. Although if I had to guess I'm pretty all-round tolerant because I don't push people but I will push back.
It just boils down to your right to swing "your fist ends where my nose begins", it's as simple as that because I accept everyone who treats me with the same dignity as they expect for themselves.

I do think being different can make people more tolerant, although it doesn't always. It depends on empathy too.

I also think people can be tolerant about one type of difference, but not about another. There are people who are very tolerant about race or gender, but very intolerant about religion, for example, and I find lots of people (in general) see intolerance for different political views as a virtue.

I think autism is one of a number of "differences" I have that have made me more open-minded and tolerant.

I do sometimes see autistic people displaying very intolerant attitudes to neurotypicals!