“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.
You’re correct, sociopathy is a social construct defined by use. And I’m using it to refer to autistic people and people with other sociopathies, in a blatantly transparent attempt to manipulate the general public into having some sympathy for those who have been historically branded with this slur.
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.
I’m willing to brand myself as a sociopath if it gets people to treat others with respect. I’m not going to abandon my fellow neurodivergents for self-preservation. We’re in this together.
But… Why? Nobody is calling autistic people sociopaths these days. Mr Beast is being called a sociopath due to his apparent lack of empathy evidenced by several videos he (attempted to get) made. He also doesn’t smile with his eyes, suggesting a lack of genuine emotion to people.
Your claim that people with autism are sociopaths also doesn’t lead to people treating neurodivergent people with more respect, because you yourself come across as uninformed and disrespecting of neurodivergent people.
You might have good intentions but I sincerely recommend you try a different approach.
I’m engaged in what B F Skinner called operant conditioning. It’s such a simple psychological effect, it works on all manner of animals. When an animal does something you don’t want, you do something the animal doesn’t want. Then the animal does it less. When someone platforms the idea that we’re all supposed to hate “sociopaths”, I create a pointless, annoying, and frustrating argument that pisses everyone off. Then people do it less. It doesn’t matter if I change anyone’s beliefs, this technique changes habits.
“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.
You’re correct, sociopathy is a social construct defined by use. And I’m using it to refer to autistic people and people with other sociopathies, in a blatantly transparent attempt to manipulate the general public into having some sympathy for those who have been historically branded with this slur.
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.
I’m willing to brand myself as a sociopath if it gets people to treat others with respect. I’m not going to abandon my fellow neurodivergents for self-preservation. We’re in this together.
But… Why? Nobody is calling autistic people sociopaths these days. Mr Beast is being called a sociopath due to his apparent lack of empathy evidenced by several videos he (attempted to get) made. He also doesn’t smile with his eyes, suggesting a lack of genuine emotion to people.
Your claim that people with autism are sociopaths also doesn’t lead to people treating neurodivergent people with more respect, because you yourself come across as uninformed and disrespecting of neurodivergent people.
You might have good intentions but I sincerely recommend you try a different approach.
I’m engaged in what B F Skinner called operant conditioning. It’s such a simple psychological effect, it works on all manner of animals. When an animal does something you don’t want, you do something the animal doesn’t want. Then the animal does it less. When someone platforms the idea that we’re all supposed to hate “sociopaths”, I create a pointless, annoying, and frustrating argument that pisses everyone off. Then people do it less. It doesn’t matter if I change anyone’s beliefs, this technique changes habits.