Silly neurotypicals… always overestimating their own mind-reading abilities :/
Being neurotypical allows an interesting strategy; a neurotypical person can look at someone else, and ask themselves “under what circumstances would I, or someone like me, adopt that facial expression, adopt that posture, wear those clothes?” The answer to this question then becomes the first approximation for the answer to the question “what are that person’s circumstances?”
Of course, it only works if the other person is also neurotypical; but, since most people are (hence the ‘typical’) that is usually a fairly minor downside. Using this on non-neurotypical people can lead to entertainingly wrong conclusions. (It also helps a lot if both people are from the same culture).
Being neurotypical allows an interesting strategy; a neurotypical person can look at someone else, and ask themselves “under what circumstances would I, or someone like me, adopt that facial expression, adopt that posture, wear those clothes?” The answer to this question then becomes the first approximation for the answer to the question “what are that person’s circumstances?”
Of course, it only works if the other person is also neurotypical; but, since most people are (hence the ‘typical’) that is usually a fairly minor downside. Using this on non-neurotypical people can lead to entertainingly wrong conclusions. (It also helps a lot if both people are from the same culture).