I don't think that I'm "on the spectrum" but I'm quite bad at predicting social responses to stimuli. I don't know when a joke will get a laugh or be offensive,

I don't think that I'm "on the spectrum" but I'm quite bad at predicting social responses to stimuli. I don't know when a joke will get a laugh or be offensive, when a comment here will get voted up or down, when flirting or a complement is harassment, etc. I interpret this as meaning that my theory of mind is deficient, it's a poor simulation of reality. That perspective can form a weaker claim about autistic people that's more defensible: they have theories of mind like anyone, but at best different, and at worst maladaptive. We can recognize that they have a theory of mind and still recognize that some are deficient or as with various forms of bigotry, diseased. High functioning autistics like Temple Grandin who appear to have a better functioning theory of mind than mine make me think that ToM isn't at the core of autism.