This response (and a few others here) hints that your concern for well being might not extend much to other people.
This isn't a condemnation. I have HFA relatives who struggle with this limit, particularly those who are especially gifted elsewhere. Demonizing them is wrong.
However, views without empathy might necessarily be downgraded - that is, they may carry less weight where empathy is needed.
> Yes, anyone who isn't hysterical about the possibility of old people dying is autistic.
That's an interesting perspective. I don't share it, however. My perspective is this.
After several decades of autistic folks being deeply embedded in my life, I've come to view the spectrum as a normalcy that all of us reside on. Our challenges aren't equal but our list of possible factors is.
In that view, HFA is a shorthand we use to indicate someone exhibits enough degrees of enough factors. I see HFA as a pointer to a cluster, not a person.
Two of those factors are a dearth of connection and authenticity. I believe our poster exhibited both. The reason I referenced HFA: It's the term I know that also points to a strong presentation of both of those. If you have a better, I might adopt it.
Regarding a dearth of connection, it's something I'm intimate with. I've managed to develop some empathy but it's like trying to grow a garden without seed, soil, air or sunlight.
But if someone is there, I know they've already brought what they have to the table. I need to adjust my expectations.
In previous generations there was a sense that the elderly had already lived their best years, and the young should be prioritized in emergencies. "Women and children first" The American Boomer generation flipped this on its head, with them demanding the young make sacrifices for them.
