𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚘𝚠

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 16th, 2023

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  • The problem is that you’re coming across as extemely insensitive by branding people with autism with what we now consider a slur. Your attempt at sympathy is considered insulting because these days we don’t consider people with autism to be sociopaths. And in fact, we historically didn’t really do that either, as sociopathy historically required a total lack of empathy, which autistic people don’t have (they have trouble expressing or understanding it, but they don’t lack it entirely). That’s why, as our understanding of these conditions improved, sociopaths were mostly diagnosed with ASPD, whereas people with autism were diagnosed with ASD instead.


  • “Sociopathy” as a concept predates the DSM. Although these days it’s not considered a “diagnosis” anymore, the set of disorders that were considered typical for sociopaths has now been grouped under ASPD. Nonetheless, the term “sociopath” stuck around and still refers to people who we would now likely give an ASPD diagnosis under the DSM.

    Your claim that people with autism are considered sociopaths is just plain wrong. The etymology of a word doesn’t necessarily define its meaning. As an example, take the word “retard”. It used to have a diagnostic meaning, though these days it’s obviously not in the DSM anymore. Etymologically it just means “someone who is slow/late”, but if you call your colleague who is a little late for a meeting a retard, you’re going to get called to HR.