Would you be friends with a person like this?

I he diagnosed with Aspergers, told you he has it or are you assuming he has this.

Well I think its key to remember that your friend has no sense of empathy so he/she really doesn’t understand how a post like that makes you feel. If you cannot deal with having a friend who has no empathy its probably time to draw a line in the sand. Your friend is not going to change.

I work with some Aspergers people… from what I understand he might think he’s being funny. Humor is heavily a social construct and people with Aspergers often don’t get social cues. They don’t get “hints” and often miss more than hit when it comes to social boundaries so I don’t hold them to the same consequences until I’ve been concrete with them.
You probably already know that people with Aspergers often have to be told in blunt concrete terms what doesn’t work. If it was me, I would say something like, “Hey. I want to talk with you about your FB status. Were you joking?” “It did not sound like a joke to me. It sounded like you were insulting your friends. Go ahead and text your friends. They don’t know when you want to talk.” etc.

I don’t think you need to say anything to him. If his FB status confuses you, then you might mention that. If it offends you because you’re not confused by it, then you might also mention that (gently). If he has Asperger’s Syndrome, then he’s obviously not as sensitive to these types of things as you are.

So you might suggest – if you really feel a need to say something – that others (including yourself) are sometimes put off by jokes that fall flat… and this one did.

You should make it clear to your friend that his status was hurtful to you if that will make you feel better about the situation, but you must do so knowing that it will very likely make no difference. You went into this friendship knowing that there would be times like this, did you not? Try to remember the things that made you want to enter a friendship with him in the first place. If you still feel that this friendship is having a negative/unhealthy effect on your life, it may be time to move on.

I’d ignore it. I don’t have Asperger’s but Sometimes I post edgy/personal facebook statuses, and if no one responds right away I assume it was too much or out of line and I take it down. If this friend doesn’t get feedback, maybe he’ll let it go, and you can all ignore it.

He refuses to text anyone first, but thinks everyone should text him? Am I getting this right?

@Symbeline You got that right, but I bet that’s not how it was meant. Aspergers brains work very different than ours. They are blind (at varying degrees) to social nuances and how to say things right. Best way I understood it was through reading “The Curious Incident of the Dog in Nighttime.”

I don’t see the problem.

What a jerk!

Sounds like a failed attempt at being funny (instead of sad that no one had called him). What exactly is so upsetting?