One of the biggest stereotype about autistic people is that we have less empathy, but that’s opposite from the truth. A good example of this is the heightened secondhand embarrassment that many autistic people feel.
This is not a very talked about characteristic of autism, but I’ve seen it in many people, including myself. It’s especially potent in young children. When I was little if a character on tv did something that was silly or embarrassing I would have to hide away from the tv or sometimes I’d even have to leave the room. Even as a adult I find myself turning away or skipping scenes of shows that are embarrassing. Nerotypicals experience secondhand embarrassment too, but it’s far less intense. I believe this reaction is rooted in empathy. Similar to when something sad happen, you may also feel sad, you might cry because you are feeling empathy. You are are sharing in that feeling. So when I see embarrassing things I feel embarrassed as well.
Even though this reaction is plain empathy others can often misunderstand it. I recently witnessed this same reaction while my dad was watching tv. (He has given permission for me to write this) I noticed he was skipping scenes of the good doctor with awkward interaction, specifically a bad date and a fight where the main character was being yelled at for being apathetic. One of these is a comedy scenes, but the other is an emotional moment. Seen from the outside you could take my dads reaction as him being apathetic to the characters and how they feel. Like the stereotype itself the problem is that autistic people feel just as deeply as anyone, but because we may show it differently others may think we aren’t feeling anything at all. Autistic people feel empathy, we often feel too much of it, the way it’s perceived doesn’t change that fact.