Vulnerable to exploitation
firemonkey
Citizen
in General ASD
That was mentioned in the write up of my post ASD dx appointment. That
being due to taking things very literally and at face value. Also
difficulty in reading other people’s intentions. I’ve always been
sceptical about that due to having coped well with phone scams.Those
though are/were far more crude and obvious, and easily detectable than
the one I’ve fallen for recently. This has been a wake up call to the
negative side of being autistic.
Comments
When I was younger and unaware of autism and how it impacts on my perception of people I was exploited by different people in different ways.
I think not knowing how to tell an insincere person from a sincere person or how to protect my feelings from being manipulated, led to some unfortunate situations.
What happened recently? If you dont want to say, thats fine.
I am overall way too placid of a person and too eager to help, it gets me in trouble. I'm also the kind of kid parents told to not talk to strangers at all and to not help them find their lost puppy/cat/whatever. lol
I have managed to dodge some bullets lately which I'm happy about, though I still have also been taken advantage of a few times.
Verity is spot-on: a good con artist will be able to get to anybody in the right circumstances. So will somebody who knows you well enough - it's all about spotting and exploiting a weakness, inadequacy/insecurity or desire you have.
This is true and it often works to help me spot red flags. But I'm far from infallible: I can still be manipulated and will see the mechanism clear as day only after the fact. I'm even aware that my belief that all people who have been mistreated or wronged should be helped and need my support can be exploited and it still happens sometimes.
And sometimes I see possible red flags with people and feel guilty about it because everybody else sees them as a victim. We always need to remind ourselves that people who have been victimised are still people like anybody else, not martyrs, and they can exploit their situation or people's sympathy. It's not easy to keep a good balance between compassion and protecting yourself.