oh dear PMs going to get a lot of hate well deserved.

[hayli]

may couldn't have the decency to visit the victims of Grenfell tower ' due to security threat'
but HM the queen and Prince William were OK to show kindness to those effected.

sushi No idea but she does remind me of someone I work with who is on the spectrum and who is highly intelligent, hard working but has no idea how to interact with others. I have to say my colleague's attempts to "fit in" socially have been painful at times but marriage and a child seem to have helped in the last couple of years.

Of course this may well not be the reason with TM, she may just be hideously shy, but whatever the reason she is patently unable to relate to others (or to fake it either).

She is desperately, desperately hopeless as a politician and doesn't seem much better as a human being.

I forgot about the TV debates. Yes she went out of her way to avoid those too. I wonder if she suffers from anxiety? I avoid things when I'm anxious.

"She does not have the "Diana touch'. Diana's son does, the younger one more so. Will 'gets it', hence his appearance. His Grandmother doesn't 'get it' but has been told to appear that she does."

I'm not even a Royalist, yet I think the Queen is far more "human" than TM. She's seen a hell of a lot in her life and is known to have a strong sense of humour and to be an excellent mimic. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she does a very funny imitation of TM with her idiosyncratic diction.

I am a fan of both of them - both ace -HM Queen and Mrs May.

I find it disturbing that all the HM supporters regard having empathy as something people do purely for show

Eh?

quizqueen
For reference.

Mary - have you seen something in TM that the rest of us are missing? Just genuinely curious

So hang on. Corbyn turns up but 'real' reason is courting publicity so nothing to be pleased about. May doesn't turn up - that's bad. If she had turned up would she not also be accused of courting publicity or worse? Seems to me if people have their mind set about a person then whatever they do is wrong.

Most definitely I am not a fan of Mays and will be happy when she's no longer PM

I think she's much better one to one. Andy burnham, who is unlikely to be an ally, has talked about her genuine distress when she met the hills borough families and how impressed he was with her them.
As a parent of a child with asd I have to inform you that seeming social woodeness can conceal great depth of feeling and just because emotions are not worn on the sleeve does not mean they are absent. This thread makes me sad because it shows how much people judge from outward social manner.

Well then, she should fuck off an be a counsellor then. Because being PM requires some skill in 1:70 million.

Well I think the charming post from maidofstars proves the point about lack of sympathy rather neatly.
No wonder poor old ds has such a shit time 😞

Karlos, I think you may well be right but even so she's in the wrong job if that is the case.

This thread makes me sad because it shows how much people judge from outward social manner.

I agree with this. And outward social manner does not equate to great inner depth of feeling.

She does not have the "Diana' touch

I agree with this as well. Theresa May would not be the obvious person to choose as, say, a charity ambassador. But, equally, the Princess of Wales would not have been your top choice for high government office on the grounds that she knew absolutely nothing about economics or the political system. (I'm not a fan of Conservative economic policy at the moment before anyone piles in. But you take the point.)

This thread makes me sad because it shows how much people judge from outward social manner
Unfortunately, and I genuinely mean 'unfortunately', there's no other way to immediately understand how people are feeling.

I'm not going to explain this well. Forgive me, please, I'm not a dick. I'm sorry if my flippant response upset you

But if someone doesn't show empathy, how can I distinguish the genuine 'can't show's from the people who 'can't feel'?

"As a parent of a child with asd I have to inform you that seeming social woodeness can conceal great depth of feeling and just because emotions are not worn on the sleeve does not mean they are absent. This thread makes me sad because it shows how much people judge from outward social manner."
Some people can and do look beyond any such social woodenness.

Obviously if our PM did have ASD we'd need to know about it, not saying she does but I was surpassed by how unnatural she is when interacting with the public.

It just crossed my mind because her face did look distraught and emotional after speaking to the fire brigade. Yet her words and mannerism were so detached. Yes i would feel sorry for her but she is risking all our safety and wellbeing as a result of her political inability.

By taking a bit of time and engaging your brain, perhaps, bearing in mind the well known truth that outward appearance isn't necessarily all there is to a person? It's really not that hard.
Responses like this make me utterly despair for the future of ds in an NT world. I know I'm marking shallow judgements but I'm not going to change is basically what you're saying.

To me Theresa May comes across like a somewhat bossy and awkward girl not really like a grown up.

Wtf would you need to know if she had asd? What harm could that do to you?

She is in charge of the country.

But she's PM. Part of the job is engaging and empathising (even nodding as a learned response). I can't get behind someone who gives every appearance of not caring and isn't taking advice on making it look like she cares.

not that I could be behind TM anyway

So presumably you were ok with media prying into Gordon browns mental health too, sushi? After all he was running the country.
This is a very depressing thread. I try and pretend to myself people are tolerant, kind, won't rush to judgement if ds. But it isn't true, in most cases, is it?

I dont like TM at all as I think she is largely useless however I did feel that she looked harrowed on the news tonight.

I dont think she is genuinely heartless (like Thatcher)- I think she is just terribly out of her depth.

But, Maid (and I'm genuinely not trying to be goady), does it really matter if you or I understand how she's feeling? What matters are the actions she takes.

A friend of mine is an oncologist; she deals with death and grieving relatives day in, day out. She said she actually bit the bullet with one grieving lady who said to her "You don't care". She replied "Do you know what? You're right. I didn't know your dad and so this obviously means I'm not affected in the same way as you are. But I'm very sorry for your loss and it's my job to try and help you, which I'd be delighted to do to the very best of my ability if you'd like me to." And she said she got a lot of respect for that. Faux sympathy and platitudes mean nothing.

Maidofstars, my ds is quite capable of empathy. He may not show it in such a manner as to satisfy the ignorant, but intelligent people are capable of grasping this.
They are few in number.