Any other aspies here?

[Jim Lane]

9. About empathy

In both the works I mentioned, the aspie is not portrayed as being indifferent to other people's feelings, but is portrayed as having difficulty (more difficulty than most people) at understanding matters that aren't set forth in explicit terms.

For example: I watched Adam years ago, so my memory may be faulty, but I think there's a scene where the (non-aspie) female lead explains to Adam something that would have been clear to most listeners but that he hadn't understood. He's somewhat aware of his limitations, and he says in frustration, "You people read minds!"

In another scene, Adam, who's deeply interested in outer space, is at a party. A woman casually mentions that she's been thinking about possibly buying a telescope. He launches into a detailed analysis of the different options for telescopes. He's not non-empathetic in the sense of doing what he wants regardless of what the other person wants. He's sincerely trying to be helpful, but he just doesn't pick up the nonverbal cues that would tell him that he's giving her much more information than she wants.

I could well believe that this kind of empathy problem is frequent among aspies but far from universal. A fictional treatment can't cover all the nuances. I wouldn't fault the film if there are a lot of aspies who are like Adam in many respects.