This is a very interesting video: Oprah interviews Malcolm Gladwell, the author of ‘Talking to strangers’. The interview doesn’t mention autism but Malcolm states that quite a few people don’t express their emotions with their face expressions. Although, I presume, most of them don’t laugh when they are shocked or depressed, like I do if I think that my real emotions shouldn’t be discussed.
He also says that most sexual assault cases on American campuses happen when both people involved were really drunk. Yet, when you ask students what can be done to reduce number of cases they mention everything but cutting down on drinking. Interesting. I presume most of those students are neurotypical.
Another interesting thing that Malcolm mentions is that people in general are quite bad at establishing when someone is lying. This is apparently how evolution designed us. If we were to assume all the time others may be lying we wouldn’t be able to build a normal society. So possibly it’s not just us, autistics? Although, I presume we may be too naive in certain situations, like when I was ripped off by a mortgage advisor, only because I assumed he’ll get me the best deal because I was paying him and I’m in the UK where everyone is professional. I got all the money back though after screaming at him over emails the entire weekend, which was worth it of course but I wouldn’t advise anyone to employ similar tactic. Better to be vigilant the entire time.
I am considering purchasing this book, it sounds like a great read. But if you don’t want to, at least watch the interview, it’s really good.
Autistic and me 
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