Quote:
Originally Posted by snickie
I think people don't understand exactly what defines psychopathy and how that is so different from autism.
As implied in the article, autistic people usually don't know that the way they're acting is inappropriate unless someone explicitly tells them, whereas psychopaths don't care that their behavior is inappropriate. Autistic people struggle with empathy, struggle to understand what other people are feeling (although once they do understand their response is usually pretty strong, although that in itself might not coincide with a neurotypical's expectation of an empathetic response); psychopaths don't care how you feel unless it serves their purposes.
Society has taught me, personally, that I need to fear the mentally ill, not for my sake but for theirs. One of my high school bandmates's brother is medium-functioning autistic. Society says I shouldn't interact with him because 1) he's weird (always a valid justification  ) and 2) I might freak him out with my apparent normalness or say something wrong thus triggering a meltdown which would be extremely traumatic for him and embarrassing for both of us.
Some time ago I watched a comedy routine by this Australian who was talking about gun control. Other than his dig on Aspergians (summary in trigger tags), it was actually pretty hilarious. And what he said might work if America were a perfect country. But it isn't, and gun control politics isn't what this topic is about.
Moving on.
We could go the more paranoid route and consider that the psychopaths of the world might be spreading these lies around so as to give ignorant people another group of people to hate thus forgetting about the psychopaths and leaving them to do as they please.
Let's do some quick substition:
Then the psychopaths of the world open up a dialogue. "Noooo," they say. "We're not soulless creatures! We're just misunderstood. We are cute and cuddly!" And because many psychopaths are well-versed in acting like normal people and are so charismatic and loud and self-assured, people believe them.
Whereas autistic people are awkward, bumbling, stuttering (or completely nonverbal) nutters and nobody should believe them because they don't look, sound, act the part.
I need to stop before this post becomes a mile long like my others. |
Take your time, and don't be afraid to speak up if and when you have more to say.
And me? The best image I can think of regarding living with an ASD starts with tunnel vision (an image most people can recognize, at least). Then, imagine the walls of that tunnel lined with funhouse mirrors (the kind that split your reflection a dozen ways or ridiculously distort your appearance).
To make the image clearer still, imagine yourself looking down the tunnel I just described at your own actions or conduct. You do something, but you don't know enough to trust how other people would react to your actions and thus complete the first "turn." Then, you take your second turn, trying to explain your actions--only to run into the idea that your very attempt to explain what you did makes your original action (the one you did during your first turn) inauthentic. Self-doubt, anxiety, and ultimately depression seem
to be natural consequences of such a situation; however, am I supposed or expected to feel that way?
Thank you for your post, in any case.