The first I learned about autism was as a kid told I had Asperger’s. For a long time, what autism meant to me was not having friends, feeling misunderstood, and generally being a bit weird. When I began reading more and hearing some of the beliefs people had about autistic people, that we didn’t have empathy or that we lack theory of mind, it felt exceptionally hurtful.

At that time in my life, it felt like autism meant people not viewing me as a whole person. I argued, as an adolescent, that I did not have Asperger’s and cried whenever I saw the word autism on my medical and educational documents.

The neurodiversity movement is revolutionizing how autism is understood. Since my experiences in the early 2000s, most of those troubling myths I encountered have been disproven. We know today that autistic people do have empathy. Some autistic people are hyperempathetic (Kimber colleagues, 2024).

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Psychology Today
December 18, 2024