I am not offended at all...I too am very passionate on the subject. I also have a child with ASD. I have been told by many professionals that they all have empathy. To say a person does not have empathy is actually saying that they are psychopaths, people with autism are not psychopaths. I took particular interest in this particular topic as I felt that was where my son was mostly lacking.
this gets onto Theory of Mind and other "theories" that denote human nature.
What we judge them on are our non ASD brain models and that is wrong... they need to be judged on their ASD brain
Two very good reads on the subject and the second link actually has a reply from Tony Attwood to a letter he sent.
http://www.autismandempathy.com/?p=374
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt139123.html
two quotes from some of my fave pages about myths.
MYTH: “Children with autistic spectrum disorders cannot empathize with others; they do not have “theory of mind” capacities.”
FACT: When working with a relationship-based affect approach tailored to the child’s individual differences, as a child’s language and cognitive abilities improve, so do his theory of mind and his ability to empathize. The children who have done very well following a DIR/Floortime treatment program are very capable of high levels of theory of mind (the ability to understand that other people have independent minds of their own, which allows a child to think about other people’s perspectives, as well as his own),and high levels of empathy. In fact, we have a subgroup of children originally diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders, many of whom are described by parents and teachers as having probably a little better empathy than their age peers who never had developmental challenges in the first place. They are highly warm, empathetic, caring individuals with friends and they are also doing well academically. This is only for a subgroup, but it is a significant subgroup. It shows what is possible with the proper program.
11 Myths about Autism
People with autism can't understand the emotions of others.
Autism often affects an individual's ability to understand unspoken interpersonal communication, so someone with autism might not detect sadness based solely on one's body language or sarcasm in one's tone of voice. But, when emotions are communicated more directly, people with autism are much more likely to feel empathy and compassion for others.
