Page 1 of 4 [ 53 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

whatamess
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,284

05 Feb 2008, 4:14 pm

Just wondering if we'll all soon be wiped out...hmmm...kind of scary...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080205/ap_ ... Ui6wEPLBIF



Reyairia
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 220
Location: in another castle

05 Feb 2008, 4:15 pm

I think there's a huge paranoia surrounding a potential cure, and I suggest not jumping the gun on the subject.



Age1600
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,028
Location: New Jersey

05 Feb 2008, 4:17 pm

YEa i'm afraid of that as well, but i dont care what cures they get out there, i'm not changing who i am, i'll fight it all way to congress if i had to, this is me, this is how i was born, i fought to be here today, and i'm going to continue fighting until i die!


_________________
Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated :wall:


Riddick124
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 693

05 Feb 2008, 4:19 pm

I am pretty sure that this means that eventually they will be able to prevent Asperger's in people before they are born, not erase it from people who are already developed. Besides, I do not feel Asperger's is something that needs to be "cured", I am happy how I am, I feel no need to be social or fitting in.



whatamess
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,284

05 Feb 2008, 4:37 pm

Although I agree I also don't want a cure, I don't know that I even agree with "preventing" children from being born this way...Maybe it's just me, but it does worry me if everyone out there was NT...hmmm



Reyairia
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 220
Location: in another castle

05 Feb 2008, 4:41 pm

whatamess wrote:
Although I agree I also don't want a cure, I don't know that I even agree with "preventing" children from being born this way...Maybe it's just me, but it does worry me if everyone out there was NT...hmmm


If you ask me, I think society needs autism else risk never being able to advance without those that are able to distance them from society and think without a filter. We are needed.



Sedaka
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,597
Location: In the recesses of my mind

05 Feb 2008, 5:04 pm

i think we'll destroy our planet b4 finding a "cure" for autism


_________________
Neuroscience PhD student

got free science papers?

www.pubmed.gov
www.sciencedirect.com
http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl


sarahstilettos
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Sep 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 847

05 Feb 2008, 5:11 pm

Quote:
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source, which are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation.


doesn't mention autism yet. It also states that most of the genes that make you who you are are contained in your nucleus, which this technique does not interfere with. Do they even know how to find the genes that cause autism?



Sedaka
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,597
Location: In the recesses of my mind

05 Feb 2008, 5:47 pm

sarahstilettos wrote:
Quote:
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source, which are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation.


doesn't mention autism yet. It also states that most of the genes that make you who you are are contained in your nucleus, which this technique does not interfere with. Do they even know how to find the genes that cause autism?


i doubt it's even the GENES per se that cause autism, so much as regulation of those genes......... so mutational studies won't be that much help... though they can give clues to susceptible genes and their role in autism.

if autism were due to mitochondrial issues... it'd be much easier to track genetically since you get your mitochondria from your mom (they all come from the egg's cytoplasm, since the sperm doesnt bring any with it)... kinda contradicts the lack of female autistics theory :wink:


_________________
Neuroscience PhD student

got free science papers?

www.pubmed.gov
www.sciencedirect.com
http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl


Riddick124
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 693

05 Feb 2008, 5:50 pm

Sorry for going off-topic, but all this talk of mutation and argueing over whether we are a disease or an invaluable asset to NTs has made me think of X-men. This is exactly what it was about, both the normal humans (NTs) and the mutants (aspies) fighting over whether to cure mutations or to accept them, even benifit from them.



Prof_Pretorius
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,520
Location: Hiding in the attic of the Arkham Library

05 Feb 2008, 6:00 pm

If I got "cured" I think my wife would divorce me, not to mention all my friends would quit talking to me. It's like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", I'd act 'normal' and that would be WEIRD ! !!


_________________
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I have to go. ~Theodore Roethke


KingdomOfRats
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,833
Location: f'ton,manchester UK

05 Feb 2008, 6:20 pm

am do not think if there ever is a cure,it will be forced on people,especially on those who already exist,and especially high functioning autistics-it won't wipe out autistics.
This isn't the age of hitler anymore,and there is increasing awareness of autism and aspergers with each year that passes.
Put that with all the human rights laws out there that would stop such a thing being forced on a person,no way will it be a war against autistics.


Quote:
Sorry for going off-topic, but all this talk of mutation and argueing over whether we are a disease or an invaluable asset to NTs has made me think of X-men. This is exactly what it was about, both the normal humans (NTs) and the mutants (aspies) fighting over whether to cure mutations or to accept them, even benifit from them.

they never talk about curing aspergers specifically,only autism [usually not meaning ASD] so aspies are the least likeliest to be affected,they are talking about curing very strong impairments and high complex needs on the autism spectrum that cause a very poor quality of life,not focussing on those who are going to live independantly and support themselves-a big part of the want for cure by some is about funding [because being lf/mfa,means using up funding on lifetime residential placement,staffing,medications and so on,it is pathetic that funding is thought of being more important than giving a person a life but that is how it goes].


_________________
>severely autistic.
>>the residential autist; http://theresidentialautist.blogspot.co.uk
blogging from the view of an ex institutionalised autism/ID activist now in community care.
>>>help to keep bullying off our community,report it!


Inventor
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,014
Location: New Orleans

05 Feb 2008, 6:28 pm

This seems doable, and worth doing, it is just sheading some code errors, not altering the person.

I do not see a cure for autism, for it is human, and in the limited European gene pool, everywhere.

It is a recessive that comes out strong with some crosses, but I doubt we could predict that. I see it as not a "thing", that can be tracked down, but one of DNA X DNA possible outcomes.

The idea that it is a modern epidemic is doubtful, it is more likely that the genes had a higher survival factor, and other genes had a lower survival factor.

Nature plays some harsh games, we are trapped in Evoution in action.

We are five million years old, most species through time have lasted about five million years. Do they destroy the food supply? Run the genes too thin? All become suceptable to some bug? Do they just sit and rock? Stay tuned, we are the first species who can watch it happen, and write books about it, but there is nothing we can do to change it.

Curing disease leads to doubling population, and doubling again, till they starve, become weak, some other bug feeds on them, and we work to cure that, so we can have a world population of sixty billion.

A few hundred years ago the planet ran on human and animal labor. I see autistic thinking in the machine age, which has not freed people, but produced more, and some ugly wars. The same for Science, the eradication of diseases which killed millions, has lead to a population increase of billions.

We did it by mining the top soil, which took long to form, and the oceans, which took longer, both are now wornout. We are just another biological population that has exceeded it's habitat limits.

The first thing they do is look at who can be eradicated, let's cure autism, they can't fight back.

It is like the passengers on a plane thinking of killing the pilot, for all their quirks, it is the autistic who will keep this place running.



nutbag
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,582
Location: Arizona

05 Feb 2008, 6:57 pm

A well intentioned genocide of selective abortions is a potential. One day they will realize there has been little advancement in the most recent thirty years or so. Only good thing about it is that we won't have to put up with a world without us.


_________________
Who is John Galt?
Still Moofy after all these years
It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion
cynicism occurs immediately upon pressing your brain's start button


Phagocyte
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,757

05 Feb 2008, 7:06 pm

Inventor wrote:
Curing disease leads to doubling population, and doubling again, till they starve, become weak, some other bug feeds on them, and we work to cure that, so we can have a world population of sixty billion.


This is a really good point that I admit I've never considered.

However, I feel that the OP is rather alarmist, as is the correlation with X-men. Nobody is making anybody get cured, and nobody is making anyone get a selective abortion.


_________________
Un-ban Chever! Viva La Revolucion!


Odin
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,475
Location: Moorhead, Minnesota, USA

05 Feb 2008, 7:34 pm

The problem with a "cure" for autism is that it is likely that the existance of such a cure would likely result into a lot of autistics being indirectly coerced into taking the "cure" because society will refuse to accommodate and accept neurodiversity if there is a way to eliminate the differences with a "cure." Many autistics may lose government financial, housing, and other kinds of assistance because society will think that such things aren't needed because we cane be "cured."


_________________
My Blog: My Autistic Life