Autism is not something to be cured! AGREE? OR DISAGREE?

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Hey,
Someone on Facebook wrote something on a page about Autism that I found very offensive.
I wanted to see what everyone thought here, and see if I could get a bit of support over there. Here is the link.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?create ... 8476186146

Please write a comment on the page if you don't mind.
Thanks!

The post mixes up words that essentially mean the same thing and the personality philosophy is flawed. Just politics as usual to create confusion.

Actually I don't think this is a black and white situation. I have AS, that is quite different from low/moderate functioning autism, and can differ significantly from HFA. I can communicate my needs quite well, and I can care for myself. This is not true of everyone, so I do think some forms of autism need to be cured in the sense that I think it appropriate to seek a way such that people lower down on the spectrum can be brought up to a higher level of functioning, in which they can communicate sufficiently and care for themselves.

At the same time, I would like people to recognize AS not just for social deficits, but for the positive aspects.

I don't really know, but the ASD folk have a particular genious, about them.

In my work, I feel that it's my task, to quiet them down and bring forth that genius.

I didn't vote for either. I would like a cure for autism because I keep getting sick from sensory overloads, stress, insomnia etc. However, I don't believe that curing it would make us like everyone else as we are still individuals with different personalities and interests. Treatment does help, but it's limited to a few things and it doesn't change the way that we operate, i.e. the way our brains are designed. It's helpful but doesn't solve the problems.

So I guess I'm torn between the two.

I voted yes, cure autism. My son is 11 and was just diagnosed three months ago with Asperger's. He is pretty high functioning. However, I still see how difficult the simplest of things are for him. He gets teased, he has a ton of anxiety, he meltdowns horribly sometimes and then is exhausted and emotionally drained, and feels bad about it and himself, even though we are working on helping him understand and get some control over these things. So I see him suffering and I want that cured.

What I don't want cured is his sweetness and tenderness, his funny personality...HIM. When he is melting down, when he is having a ton of anxiety way out of control, when he is losing his cool even though he desperately wants to play with other kids, I don't think that is him so much as I think of it as his autism.

I can see how the FB thing is offensive, but I also see the other side of it, too. I see how much pain is on this board and I feel sad that there is so much suffering because of autism, and I feel scared for my son as he grows up. And I worry about him functioning in society after I am gone.

I don't want to change him. I want to take away/cure the parts of autism that cause him so much pain.

Elaine33, you can't just take the bad parts. How about if I say, okay, I want to take away the part of you that wants so badly to socialize, oh, and make it easier for you to have an obsessive focus on something? I mean, that'd just be removing the bad parts, the ones that cause you so much pain. Like, the ability to feel lonely. The ability to grieve. Those are both painful and you don't need them. Let's take them away. Let's cure you. I, after all, don't suffer from any of your deficits, and all I see of them is how much pain they cause you. I don't want to change you. That's just making life easier. Curing your deficits.

If you want to get rid of meltdowns, bear in mind there's a reason for all of them. The only way of reducing meltdowns that's worth doing is FIRST improving the environment and SECOND teaching coping skills. If you want to "cure" them away, how? Would you make him stop reacting to bad things? Stop caring? Or would you alter the way he perceives the world on such a fundamental level that he can no longer perceive that there is anything that bad? Or would you change what he considers bad and good?

You didn't think of that. You looked at it as a black box. "This is a meltdown." As if it happened in a vacuum, as if it had no cause. Stop doing that. Maybe in another decade, sooner if you're lucky, he'll start EXPLAINING why things happen and how they look to him.

Most of our suffering "because of autism" is because of being autistic in a world where it's not accepted. Look, it's not exactly a huge imposition for you to grasp that some people have very strange mannerisms. It's not a huge imposition for you to do exactly what I say when you clearly want to make me feel better and I'm communicating very clearly how to do so. That's why we need to educate ignorant NTs. Or, you know, secede and form an Aspie-only country. Whichever plan ends up seeming less impossible.

I don't think we should be cured or treated.

Your post was so perfect, I had to share it. Beautifully said.

I'd like to point out that the answers to the poll could bias the reader towards selecting the "desired" answer.

One answer has highly negative wording while the other has more positive wording.

Just want to say, your post sounds a bit like an attack at Elaine33, she was just saying she doesn't want her son to suffer...

And remember that the environment can't always be changed to suit the person...

I agree with Elaine33 in that I wish the sensory disintegration could be fixed and the social problems and the organizational problems. I don't think that has anything at all to do with not caring enough about stuff... your post kinda confused me a bit...

Curing Autism, AS etc would save a lot of money. I voted for "cure".

Umm... How?

Last edited by Asp-Z on 08 Dec 2010, 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Why, do you associate your condition with the success you've had?

If you know, enlighten us all.

Eh? It was you who made the statement, so I'm asking you to explain the logic behind it. Why would an autism cure "save a lot of money"?



The mere fact I so strongly crave a high level of success and wealth is a result of my Asperger's.