Let's talk about autism and empathy!

You can read the full script of this video right here :-)
Hi there, welcome to my video. My name is Nicole Filippone, and today we're going to be talking about Autism and Empathy.
Can an autistic person be empathetic?
YES. Absolutely.
So, what's the deal with the misconception that autistic people aren't empathetic?
Stick with me as I break it down.
So, the Empathy Quotient or "EQ" is a measure used by practitioners during an autism evaluation, which looks at a person's ability to identify other people's emotions and then respond to them with an "appropriate" reciprocal emotion.
But this measure is only half of the empathy equation when it comes to autism. And, unfortunately, many practitioners are not aware of this, which often leads to misdiagnoses.
The practitioner who evaluated me @_EmbraceAutism explained the reason for this really well in my assessment paperwork.
Here is how she put it...
"The EQ is highly misunderstood and quite misleading. Contrary to what the name of the test might imply, it does not measure emotional empathy. Instead, it predominantly measures cognitive empathy."
Now, let me quickly explain the difference between cognitive empathy and emotional empathy.
Cognitive empathy involves a person imagining what another person might be experiencing, while emotional empathy involves a person sharing the emotional experience of another as though they are going through it themselves.
Now, this lack of emotional empathy testing in the autism evaluation process has since been addressed by the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, which measures emotional empathy.
This questionnaire was actually included in my assessment, and what I found most fascinating in learning about autism and cognitive vs. emotional empathy, is that it is possible for an autistic person to have low cognitive empathy but high emotional empathy. Which is the case for me.
Now, there is another element to all of this, which is that up to half of autistic people also have something called alexithymia, which is a person having difficulty understanding and articulating their own emotions. And, it has been found that alexithymia lowers emotional empathy.
So, does this mean that up to half of autistic people are not empathetic?
Not at all.
Research has found that emotional empathy is actually still very much there in autistic individuals... but alexithymia can make it more difficult for an autistic person to pick up on social queues related to emotions. And so they are therefore unable to react to them.
BUT, once it is brought to their attention, for example, someone saying "hey, I'm really having a rough day today, something happened at work, and it's really bothering me"... they are often able to show deep and genuine empathy for the other person.
So that explains the reason for the misconception that autistic people often don't have empathy... and how autistic people actually experience empathy.
And...
That's it for this video. If you found it informative and want to see more content like it, give it a like and subscribe to the channel. Make sure you click the notification bell so you're notified when I post my next video.
Thanks for watching!yo

[@WillOfWands]

I have alexithymia and tend to feel the ‘weight’ of people’s emotions rather than the emotion itself. If I know someone’s going through something, it can lead to complete shutdown or getting upset. But when I’m in a good mood and someone else is excited or joyful, I can feel that directly too.

[@leightownley5404]

I suspect I’m autistic but I’m really empathetic and actually feel like I feel peoples feelings, I’m just reading unmasking autism and it totally resonates with me. I was diagnosed with ADHD but I think I’m autistic

[@sensorystoriesbynicole]

Thank you for your comment. Unmasking Autism is on my list of books to read... glad to know it's resonating with you. 🙂

[@Slaaneshy_Concubine]

I find it weird how some of the questions are implied. Like the question if you steer the conversation towards something else when a friend starts talking about his / her problems. It might seem like I am a bad human being for ticking „sometimes“, but the reason I do that is just to improve their mood when I feel like they might benefit from it (when the problem is nothing serious). If it‘s something serious (like they‘re actually depressed, anxious, …) then I would likely never change the topic by myself. So it‘s more like weighing whether talking about it would help them or trying to make them feel better by changing the topic towards something positive would be the better option.

[@thesincitymama]

When someone tells me how they feel and they feel bad it’s like their emotions pour down over me and sometimes I can’t talk or I start crying

[@rochinhaufc]

Hi. Saw your video on instagram and just found out you have an YT channel. Commenting here so that YT knows I want more videos.

[@sensorystoriesbynicole]

Thank you so much for your comment and support... glad to have you here!!

[@michalelkin-bronner7958]

cognitive empathy like mentioned in the video understanding other perspectives view point point of view emotions and noticing other's emotions emotional empathy like mentioned in the video sharing experiencing and feeling other's emotions compassionate empathy using empathy to care for someone and eliminate their suffering earth empathy feeling empathy for earth and mother nature responsive empathy feeling empathy through action rational empathy rationally the feeling of empathy counsicseness empathy feeling the counsicess of empathy global empathy feeling empathy for all of the people from different places tactile empathy feeling empathy through touch musical empathy feeling empathy through music reflective empathy reflecting on the feeling of empathy physical empathy physically feeling others emotions and feeling other's body sensations artistic empathy emotionally connecting to art and the person who made it plant empathy feeling the energizes of plants animal empathy feeling the emotions of animals dream empathy feeling emotionally connected to dreams and understanding the meaning behind them intuitive empathy feeling empathy through instinct or gut feeling and knowing about emotions before people tell you and trying to find the reasons behind them social empathy understanding social cues and contexts and group dynamics interpersonal empathy feeling empathy in one on one places spiritual empathy feeling spiritually connected and understanding other's beliefs visual empathy feeling empathy visually digital empathy feeling empathy in online or digital spaces psychological empathy understanding other's thoughts and psychology motor empathy being in tune with other's physical movements and facial movements and motor activities sensory empathy being connected to other's sensory experiences fantasy empathy connecting to media understanding the perspectives and feeling the emotions of fictional characters