I've heard that people on the Autistic spectrum tend to live in a world of their own and have little ability to empathise.
But from my observations it appears that me and my partner (both Aspies) are much more aware of the people around us than most other people, who will sometimes exhibit ignorant behaviour like trying to walk straight through you instead of moving to one side on the pavement to allow you to pass. We also feel emotional empathy strongly when someone is in distress, whereas I've seen people in so called "caring professions" who didn't seem to care at all.
Maybe we on the Autistic spectrum all have this hyper-sensitivity to other people and emotional empathy, but it overloads some to the extent that they block it out, either by "shutting down", which restricts their communication abilities, or by making their own noise, repetitive movements, etc
What do you think?