Autism and Invention Are Connected
Interesting read.<p>Minor point of clarification: It's noted that many autistic folks struggle with empathy. There are two dimensions to empathy, <i>cognitive</i> and <i>affective</i>. Cognitive is more about perspective taking, or reading the feelings / intentions of others, while affective is the ability to share/understand the emotions of others, and respond appropriately.<p>Putting aside that the two may overlap, it's often the cognitive aspect that challenges the autistic, leaving them susceptible to being tricked, or unable to pick up on, say, whether or not a person is interested in dating them.<p>I point this out b/c it's important that this deficiency isn't construed as simply a predisposition to acting like an unfeeling jerk. There are many layers to empathy, as well as the related concept of <i>Theory of Mind</i>.