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Awareness of others

Lotus

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? 

Parents

  • Hi PixieFox,

    I totally relate to what you're talking about. I'm almost hyper aware of other people around me, if I have headphones in I make sure no one else can hear them, I always move out of the way of people walking towards me, and if I'm sat next to someone on the bus I do everything I can to make sure I'm not bothering them. I'm not sure whether it's because I know how much those things can get to me, or just because I feel very tuned in to other people's emotions. 

    It's odd because as you say, the expectation with Aspergers is that people will be less empathetic, but this also affects me in social situations. I worry a lot about how the other person is reacting to what I'm saying; whether they're starting to shift away or that something I have said has upset them. I think this makes it harder for me to talk to people because I'm so busy worrying about how they're responding that I can't really engage in the conversation. 

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  • Hi PixieFox,

    I totally relate to what you're talking about. I'm almost hyper aware of other people around me, if I have headphones in I make sure no one else can hear them, I always move out of the way of people walking towards me, and if I'm sat next to someone on the bus I do everything I can to make sure I'm not bothering them. I'm not sure whether it's because I know how much those things can get to me, or just because I feel very tuned in to other people's emotions. 

    It's odd because as you say, the expectation with Aspergers is that people will be less empathetic, but this also affects me in social situations. I worry a lot about how the other person is reacting to what I'm saying; whether they're starting to shift away or that something I have said has upset them. I think this makes it harder for me to talk to people because I'm so busy worrying about how they're responding that I can't really engage in the conversation. 

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