"I'm Human After All": Autism, Trauma, and Affective Empathy.

Abstract

What is the topic of this article and why is it important?: Many people believe that autism causes a lack of empathy. This belief is a problem because it denies the lived experience of autistic adults and makes them appear as less than human. It can also lead to violence against autistics, and it can mean that empathic autistic adults miss out on an autism diagnosis. As a result, they may not be able to access necessary supports. This situation may cause suffering for autistic adults.What is the perspective of the authors?: R.H. is an autistic woman diagnosed in adulthood, who is often overwhelmed by too much empathy. She worked as an employment mentor for autistics and is now a PhD candidate researching relationship-building between autistic service users and their support professionals. H.B. is an autistic man diagnosed in childhood. As a teenager, he was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental disorder caused by trauma. He did not feel any empathy for most of his life and felt very distressed by this, as he thought that it was a permanent trait of his autism. However, he started feeling empathy after trauma therapy and falling in love. Both authors believe that autistic adults can experience all forms of empathy.What arguments do the authors make?: The authors cite research that shows other reasons which may explain the autism-empathy myth: (1) nonautistics may not recognize empathy in autistics because of mutual differences, (2) nonautistics may not believe autistics who say they have empathy because old research suggested that this is impossible, and (3) empathy research on autistics may not be correct because it uses inappropriate methods. The authors then suggest that unrecognized PTSD may be the reason why some autistics have difficulties in this area. They think so because PTSD can shut down emotional empathy. Autistics are more likely to experience trauma, more vulnerable to developing PTSD, and less likely to receive a diagnosis of PTSD than nonautistics.What do the authors recommend?: 1.Researchers should work with autistic adults who report difficulty in feeling empathy to determine whether they may have PTSD and/or recover empathy after trauma therapy.2.Professionals who support autistic adults should look beyond autism if their client identifies a lack of empathy as part of their challenges.3.Clinicians should treat questions relating to empathy with caution when using autism screening/diagnostic tools, allowing empathic autistic adults to access diagnosis and appropriate supports.How will these recommendations help autistic adults now or in the future?: We hope that this will lead to better support for autistics who have PTSD, and less biased referral and diagnostic procedures for those who do not. We also hope that autistic adults might feel less stigma by suggesting PTSD, not autism, as the underlying cause if they have difficulties feeling empathy.