Maybe because I had a sister with a disability I was already sensitised to and fascinated by people who think or develop differently.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the speaker's awareness and appreciation for diverse ways of thinking shaped by personal experience with a disabled sibling.
In this quote, Simon Baron-Cohen expresses how his relationship with his sister, who has a disability, has influenced his perception of individuals who think or develop differently from the norm. This connection fosters a greater sensitivity and fascination towards the diversity of human cognition and development, highlighting the importance of personal experiences in shaping our understanding of others.
In practice
In a speech about inclusivity, I might say, 'As Simon Baron-Cohen reflects, our experiences with those who are different can deepen our understanding of diversity.'
When I first started in this field there were all kinds of stereotypes about autism, as if these were children from another planet, or children who had been brought up by wolves, that they weren't part of our population and were somehow separate.
Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with a neighbor.
Brains come in different types and they're all normal.
Well, in the general population, we find differences between the typical male and typical female. For example, males seem to be more interested in systems and females seem to be more interested in people and particularly people's emotions.
Empathy is a skill like any other human skill - and if you get a chance to practice, you can get better at it.
There are people with Asperger's whom I've met who certainly would be very upset to learn they'd hurt another person's feelings. They often have very strong moral consciences and moral codes. They care about not hurting people.
Sex for pleasure, for fun, or even for building relationships is completely absent from our national conversation. Yet taking the joy out of sexuality is a surefire way to ensure not that young women won't have sex, but rather that they'll have it without pleasure.
The words with which a child's heart is poisoned, whether through malice or through ignorance, remain branded in his memory, and sooner or later they burn his soul.
Sons branch out, but one woman leads to another.
I'm also interested in the modern suggestion that you can have a combination of love and sex in a marriage - which no previous society has ever believed.
She and I just don't see eye to eye together. She's a square. She keeps telling me that I'm too interested in chess, that I should get friends outside of chess, you can't make a living from chess, that I should finish high school and all that nonsense. She keeps in my hair and I don't like people in my hair, you know, so I had to get rid of her.
Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people. But it takes time and patience.
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