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Is autism an excuse for bad behaviour?

Autistic Not Alien

What do you think about this?

I think using autism as an excuse for bad behaviour is itself very naughty. When famous people do this, it harms autistic people because it implies that autism is a bad thing. Autistic people have enough difficulty gaining acceptance and understanding in this world – the ‘autism made me do it’ excuse makes advocacy and survival even harder. I've just posted a video about this [content removed by Moderator due to breaches of the online community rules and guidelines].

Parents

  • In researching about the difference in how autistic and Neurotypical people perceive right and wrong, I came across this:

    "Imagine this: Janet and her friend are kayaking in a part of the ocean with many jellyfish. Janet had read that the jellyfish aren't dangerous, and tells her friend it's alright to swim. Her friend is stung by a jellyfish and dies."

     is she to blame?

  • in reply to Lotus

    Is Janet the NT one?

    Is there no longer such a thing as a genuine accident or mistake?

    Did Jane's friend have an unexpected allergic reaction to the jellyfish stings?

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    "Researchers who used this scenario.... found that people with autism were more likely to blame Janet for her friend's death than people without autism. Most normally functioning people understand the death of Janet's friend was accidental, because Janet didn't realize the jellyfish were poisonous, they said.

    But people with autism may perceive morality differently than normally functioning people because they focus more on the outcomes of situations, rather than the intentions of the people in those situations said study researcher Liane Young, a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

    (Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/perception-morality-different-when-you-have-autism-flna1C9466876 )

    I was just curious to find out what people on here thought of this. I like your reply Catwoman, as it highlights the need for more information that I believe we tend to have. I thought of these questions:

    - Didn't the friend research where they were going before the trip and find out for herself whether there were dangerous jellyfish there?

    - Does the friend have a learning disability that means she has to rely on Janet to tell her what situations are safe?

    If neither of those are the case, I would say that it's not Janet's fault - the friend is an adult who made her own decision to swim there. This is supposed to be the neurotypical way of thinking, and due to theory of mind we're not supposed to be able to imagine what someone is thinking, but if I were Janet I think I would feel guilty, even though I knew intellectually it wasn't my fault.

  • in reply to Lotus

    I’m sure if it was me as Janet I would have gone crazy or even worse for misleading my friend and causing such a tragedy. 

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  • in reply to Lotus

    I’m sure if it was me as Janet I would have gone crazy or even worse for misleading my friend and causing such a tragedy. 

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