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Article: Valentine's Day - "Are Aspies Capable of Love"

With today being valentine's day for the rest of the world (It was valentine's day yesterday in Australia), my "Are Aspies Capable of Love?" article has been reprinted by Autism West Midlands.

If you missed it, the link is here.
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aspmom said…
Glad you re-posted this article. The Aspie needs "smiles and hugs" . . . ARRGGG! If only he (my "he", as you know) would do X, Y, and Z practical things (that make no sense to him, but are what I want and need), the smiles and hugs could come so much more freely and more often.

I always appreciate you sharing your comments and wisdom, Gavin. Thank you!

Aspie Wife, Aspie Mom
February 25, 2011 at 2:41 PM
RhiannonOset said…
I'm failing to articulate exactly what I mean but i'll pose the question - basically this article gives the impression that it's easy to love an AS person - ie all they need are smiles and hugs?? I somehow wonder and then of course there is the 'spectrum' placement that may cause drastic differences in how they approach emotion ... I'm not going to deny there are any but it does seem to be non-existent; ie not that it's not there at all 'seem to be' implies that it's almost 'repressed' or 'hidden' (maybe due to a lack of comprehension about what they're feeling. I find that empathy seems to be a rare occurrence too - THAT said... here is my poorly articulated question:
Question... for someone who may have AS, not diagnosed... is the possibility of rationalising emotions present? In other words, where smiles & hugs are a standard acceptable option, this person rationalises with NT ideas - respect, etc? Has very clear distinctions on a separation if love vs sex... ie can explore physical relationships then walk away seemingly unfeeling but happy to remain friends ... is it possible that early poor parenting / difficult school time with peers / later relationship injuries from lies and manipulation could cause an AS person to over rationalise emotion thus leading to this appearance of a 'lack' of emotion??
April 19, 2012 at 8:28 AM
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