I’m curious of where the stereotype of autistic people being emotionless and robotic comes from.
I get that we tend to be good at pattern recognition and logic, and I do know a few stoic autistic folks.
But most of the autistic folks I know tend to feel and express uncontrollably STRONG emotion.
I get that we tend to be good at pattern recognition and logic, and I do know a few stoic autistic folks.
But most of the autistic folks I know tend to feel and express uncontrollably STRONG emotion.
Comments
(tho I was beaten in the verbal sense)
They used expressing my emotions as an excuse to abuse me
I learned how to hide my emotional reactions so well, they started to question if I was a "sociopath"
I've always been too sensitive, but my life had to be threatened in order to hide that
*like fuck they are, but you know lol
I am HUGELY empathetic, to a crippling degree. Yet, to many neurotypicals, and even…
And when I express deeper emotions of mine, even amongst close friends, there have been those who have misinterpreted these expressions as "manipulative"…
A lot of the time, when *neurotypicals do these things*, they *are* being manipulative, cold, emotionless, etc.
Meanwhile, for an autist, we might just not exaggerate our emotions, or even choose to downplay them for others, resulting in an atypical broad range of expression.
It's pure projection.
My ex said I manipulated her into hanging out with me by being nice... That's honestly how things work, I'm not mean to people I like being around.
- Asking questions is "questioning one's authority/reasoning"
- Sharing when you were hurt by something is "manipulative"
- Asking for help is "demonstrating incompetence"
etc.
It's disorienting as hell.
Do you think this is a fair perspective?
We don’t want rock the boat cause we’ve probably been burned before.
When my father (who was a loving, kind man as opposed to my abusive mother) passed away, I was heartbroken. But when I showed up to work the day after, I showed no outward signs. Folks were disturbed.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t feel at all.
I shut down during some highly emotional situations and can appear indifferent when I'm trying to process things
Humans are hit and miss with my level of empathy, but animal suffering can break me
A fair number of Autistic people I know score high on it, it's not hard to tell if someone is angry.
https://embrace-autism.com/reading-the-mind-in-the-eyes-test/#test
'What's wrong' is a common question I'm asked when thinking. Nope, not gonna off, just doing maths.
I hated having to mask, but I began to fear people would hate me if I was myself, so, I just holed myself off from people more the older I got.
Age has thankfully helped me break out of that while forging friendships where I feel comfortable unmasking.
i see my best friend and my brother quarterly. that + wife & kid is all I need.
i do make sure to make ample small talk with my local peeps tho. convenience store folk know my name, etc
airports are my favorite. you can have a couple drinks at noon, there's no judgement, chat someone up, you'll never see them again, and you're severely time limited. 👍
When in small talk, NT will say something to other NT in upbeat tone, smile. Expects close mimic back. If sad story, expects frown at appropriate places.
If uninterested, we won't show what they expect.
but yes, its actually not correct cuz it is also an autistic thing to get weirdly upset/emotional about stuff like sensory overload or things not being the way you want or disagree re interest
but several people i knew peripherally did.
1. A lot of us are highly reserved by nature.
2. If your emotional reactions are atypical, there's strong incentive to hide them.
3. Widespread cultural attitude that rationality, objectivity, etc. are cold, machinelike traits, and those who have them are less human.
5. A lot of us don't instinctively use things like facial expression or tone of voice to convey emotion.
Hoffman's character became the robotic stereotype.
My inner universe is a thrashing Leviathan of emotion & imagination I'm inextricably tethered to.
Taming the Beast of Bad Trips, guiding it back to Good Waters,
again & again, is a Sisyphean way of life.
The initial understanding revolved around: lacks sympathy, emotionless, too logical, literalism, mechanical/robotic. Back then, hegh-functioning autistics were not yet "detected".
So, stereotypes started appearing.
A: That's not what a person with autism is! My relative has autism and they aren't like that!
B: I'm autistic! That character is not autistic!
It's the stereotype called "An autistic person is someone like me or my relative." 😅
-Tech, The Bad Batch
For example, if my friend had told me that their relative was ill or hurt, I'd feel sorry for them and wish a quick recovery, but my voice might not make it sound genuine.
I suppose there's some truth to the stereotype, but it's an oversimplification regardless.
Theory of mind is being able to interpret someone else’s experience. Autistics can struggle with this. It’s part of the difficulty many have with reading facial expressions or interpreting phrases/words not as intended.
We can also have heightened empathy.
That is the man every average joe who doesn't interact with autistic people thinks of when thinking of autism.
I am not officially diagnosed, but some online mannerism tests suggest that I am likely neurodivergent.
And I sometimes feel such intense emotion that it literally hurts my head from how many neurons are firing off at once.
There might also be a thing where some people expect others to match them or feel slighted. Like: It sucks someone was rude to you in line... not the response they want, but when you're used to people being rude all the time... so?
Misunderstanding unusual emotional responses
Getting angry at missed social ques
And not getting why someone masking, so they read it as fake
Basically they don't recognise which emotions they're seeing, so they pretend they're not there
'what's wrong with you' is a separate annoyance for me.
My emotions are extremely strong, and that can be painful. I was told I was too sensitive/overreacting. I was actually having the appropriate reactions to bullying, abuse, and trauma.
I had to cope by dissociating and being numb.