WHY DO AUTISTIC PEOPLE HAVE A REPUTATION FOR HONESTY? DO YOU AGREE? Dishonesty is not very logical. It doesn’t make much sense because the truth is more likely to yield a better outcome faster and more efficiently. Whether or not the truth causes emotional challenges (a reason why people lie) is not relevant, partly because eventually the truth comes out anyway. Not being honest is a massive waste of time.
Also, dishonesty is unfair. It allows someone to gain advantage where they should not have it. That is unfair to everyone else who is impacted by the dishonesty. It can cause damage on emotional, physical, and financial levels to innocent people, when all that damage can be avoided by simply being honest.
Dishonesty also does not work with our mental paradigm. It basically is the mental model that informs us how to act in social situations. The paradigm relies on accurate, truthful information in order to provide the correct result.
If we want to act appropriately and avoid mental anguish, then we have to be honest with ourselves at all times. Lying about an input into the paradigm results in an incorrect output. Thus, dishonesty isn’t personally helpful either.
Lastly, many autistics don’t really appreciate how the truth can cause emotional challenges for people. It’s sort of interesting, but if you accept that people are dishonest sometimes to avoid a tough conversation, then you can see how that wouldn’t matter to someone who is less able to relate to those feelings.
All these things mean more honesty, even when it’s uncomfortable