There are people with Asperger's whom I've met who certainly would be very upset to learn they'd hurt another person's feelings. They often have very strong moral consciences and moral codes. They care about not hurting people.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that individuals with Asperger's syndrome can be deeply empathetic and concerned about the feelings of others.
Simon Baron-Cohen highlights the often-misunderstood moral compass of individuals with Asperger's syndrome, suggesting that despite challenges in social interactions, they possess a strong moral conscience. This reinforces the idea that people with Asperger's are often caring and sensitive, capable of feeling remorse for inadvertently hurting others, which challenges stereotypes about their emotional awareness.
In practice
In a discussion about disability awareness, this quote could highlight the moral awareness of individuals with Asperger's.
When I first started in this field there were all kinds of stereotypes about autism, as if these were children from another planet, or children who had been brought up by wolves, that they weren't part of our population and were somehow separate.
Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with a neighbor.
Brains come in different types and they're all normal.
Well, in the general population, we find differences between the typical male and typical female. For example, males seem to be more interested in systems and females seem to be more interested in people and particularly people's emotions.
Empathy is a skill like any other human skill - and if you get a chance to practice, you can get better at it.
If we treat another person as essentially bad, we dehumanize him or her. If we take the view that every human being has some good in them, even if it is only 0.1 percent of their makeup, then by focusing on their good part, we humanize them. By acknowledging and attending to and rewarding their good part, we allow it to grow, like a small flower in a desert.
If most men and women were forced to rely upon physical charm to attract lovers, their sexual lives would be not only meager but in a youth-worshiping country like America painfully brief.
Here's my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they're fair with you.
Affection is the most important thing. And the quality of affection - with your friends, your lovers, your family. But particularly for your own generation.
My wife and I were worried, when we had our firstborn, about how he was going to think of himself in a mostly white neighborhood. Particularly Asian men, I feel, we suffer more than Asian women, because we're told we're not worth anything in general.
Although goal setting can clearly be overdone, only a few people are overly involved with goals and goal setting; most people do far too little goal setting, including the reflecting that precedes the setting of such goals. Too many marriages have financial goals but not other explicit goals. Yet the gospel is certainly goal-oriented.
The best way to get along with people is not to expect them to be like you.
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