Expansions on Empathy for Autistic Experiences

Traditional views of autism define autism by its socio-communicative deficits, furthermore establishing that autistic agents are incapable of Theory of Mind and empathizing with other agents. Despite this, first-person accounts of autism state that autistic agents do experience empathy. This conflict calls for a reconceptualization of empathy to better account for autistics experiences that it typically discounts.In reimagining empathy as a dialogical empathic process, I hope to disentangle and delineate areas where autistic experiences of empathy are misrecognized or overlooked-- otherwise, areas of misunderstanding. In doing so, I seek to widen the conditions of success in regards to empathy-- expand what experiences and behavior are recognized as valid displays of empathy.