Saying “the guy isn’t autistic” isn’t a diagnosis. Mostly because he isn’t a doctor. So harping on people making diagnoses ignores the larger issue of the person using a self-diagnosis of autism to excuse his own shitty behavior.
> Saying “the guy isn’t autistic” isn’t a diagnosis.
Actually, this is how a diagnosis could be phrased by a particularly informal doctor. You mean to say it's not a valid diagnosis because he's not a doctor, which is rather the point.
> ignores the larger issue
Indeed, they wrote a comment in reply to what I can only assume is a pet peeve (I do hear and read a lot of careless negative assertions like that where they are not warranted; it's a worthy pet peeve) to bring up a smaller issue in the context of the bigger picture, while otherwise not addressing the other point. I think it's a reasonable assumption that they meant to do that.
I guess to this point, didn't you notice me also doing that? I'm just commenting on the things I want to comment on. I haven't mentioned what I think of the friend in the story because I haven't seen a reason to. Everyone knows being entirely self-centered is shitty.
But since I'm here, I guess I should comment on it. I wonder about that person and what their problems are. Why would they do something so anti-social? It's likely there's something else going on. Perhaps more to the point, it's unlikely there's nothing going on. Maybe it's actually autism. The idea that it's nothing and they're "simply terrible at accepting responsibility" is naive and, frankly, disrespectful. It's sad to me that nobody's wondering about OP's friend and everybody just takes OP's story at face value. I mean, if OP isn't qualified to diagnose but readers just roll with their diagnosis anyway, it's rather obviously unfair to the friend who has a similarly-qualified claim but is assumed by their former friend to be a scumbag.
Well, you came here to defend another poster. Your initial address wasn't to the story itself, the poster in question, etc.
And I even mentioned that even if he were autistic, it's never an excuse. A diagnosis is a tool for self-reflection, not a get-out-of-trouble-free card. So he's still shitty for using a diagnosis as a reason to be shitty.
People are taking OP's story at face value because it doesn't warrant investigation. It's minor enough that even if he were lying, it doesn't matter. The story is banal enough that it's likely happened to someone at some point. It doesn't require the display of credentials or anything like that. And no one is asking us to do anything about either side. Dude was just sharing an anecdote. That's why people are taking it at face value. Because to do otherwise is to dedicate too much energy to something that doesn't matter.
> People are taking OP's story at face value because it doesn't warrant investigation. It's minor enough that even if he were lying, it doesn't matter. The story is banal enough that it's likely happened to someone at some point. It doesn't require the display of credentials or anything like that. And no one is asking us to do anything about either side. Dude was just sharing an anecdote. That's why people are taking it at face value. Because to do otherwise is to dedicate too much energy to something that doesn't matter.
Whatever it's worth to someone else to tell a lie, it's worth to me to correct it.
> So he's still shitty for using a diagnosis as a reason to be shitty.
You're getting one side of the story and saying that doesn't warrant investigation. Empathy is literally the opposite of that. You do not have any reason to believe the friend was being shitty. OP didn't provide that.
