Is AS worse than cancer?

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This makes me so mad!



I was very autistic as a child, didn't talked, got sick because of the stress being around too many other people I didn't know.
My mom had to tell me an half hour befor we left the house that we are going. I onliy could eat the same things, hardly eating anything and so on.
I was also highly allergic and also asthmatic.

My mom things until today that my early childhood must have been terrible for me and propably for her it was, because she couldn't connect with me and worried about me.
But when I think about my childhood, well okay my allergies and asthma wasn't allways fun, but besides that I had a very good childhood. My early childhood was the best time in my life. I even would like to have my early childhood back, just this time with less allergies.
Because now I'm "highfunctioning autistic", but I'm unhappy. Unhappy not fitting into this world. But not when I appeared highly autistic, I didn't have to worry about terms like that, I was just me and that's it. And I was happy.
Being happy is the most important thing, much more important than the fact what you can do and what not.

But I can immagine that from the outside it can look quite different and the person who said that didn't have the experience himself.

For some, there are advantages to have Autism. I can't think of a single person who has said there is an advantage to having a deadly disease, which will either kill you or leave you with some form of physical disability.



Unfortunately, I have this. My sight seems to slowly be going in one eye and my hearing is enhanced.



Absolutely.

ah, no

Plenty of people who say they've become stronger or better people because they had it, though.

I don't see much sense in comparing the two really. It's not even apples and oranges; it's like... apples and pepperoni.

Okay but not a single person would not be happy to have cancer eradicated from this earth, no-one to ever get it again and everyone who has it now to be completely cured. THE SAME CANNOT BE SAID ABOUT AUTISM OR DEAFNESS!

Sure people feel stronger for having survived cancer but some people feel stronger for having survived a disaster or trauma such as a hurricane having their home destroyed , having people they love killed, ect. but it's not an advantage that comes from having cancer the way enhanced hearing can come with being blind. It's so very different.

Yes it is like comparing apples and pepperoni....... absolutely.

They are both red?

No it isn't as i have lost my dad to cancer and having Asperger's Syndrome isn't all that bad yes struggle in certain areas but overall i am satisfied with life.

Ridiculous and offensive question. My sister died of cancer. Do people really believe that is preferable to having AS?

I don't understand the general political mindset or nature( I don't care to) but it could be a platform smear to demonize this and galvanize a 'cure' from the grieving parent's/suffering folks corner - IDK..

It's a green apple.

To me this can all be reduced to logic thus:

At it's absolute best (as in most minor):
*AS* causes a variety of problems that can make daily life difficult for the individual and their friends/family etc. (otherwise it wouldn't fulfil diagnostic criteria)
*Cancer* might be a small isolated mole that is malignant, but which is easily removed under local anasthetic and which causes no further problems.

In this instance, AS would seem to be the greater predicament. The cancer is a temporary and minor condition.

And at it's absolute worst:
*AS* causes so many problems that for whatever reasons the individual experiences great suffering and wishes to end their life (whether this is acted upon or not) and friends and family experience significant impact by association.
*Cancer* is both terminal and highly unpleasant involving a great deal of pain and loss of dignity for the individual and also a huge amount of pain for loved ones.

In this instance, I would most definitely say that Cancer is the greater predicament since, however great the AS suffering, life is not taken away against the will of the individual. However bad, the AS person has and element of 'choice', the cancer person doesn't.

However, there are a million grades of both conditions in between and it's both impossible and pointless to compare them unless you were to do so case by case which would be a fruitless and tasteless exercise. I hadn't planned to get involved in this thread, but I'm just so surprised it's still continuing since the foundations for comparison are virtually nonexistent. Everyone will have their own experiences of one or both conditions, nobody can compare them on equal terms and equally, no-one should because Why?

Same here.

Autism is not the problem, it's other people that are the problem. People with their stupid rules about how a life should be "properly" lived. Cancer is a disease that destroys your body slowly and makes you incredibly sick. I would rather be autistic than have cancer. You might as well say that having HIV is better than having autism. Once we learn what we are, once I learned what I was, I stopped "faking" and started acting like myself, and I've never been more happy. Yes, I have less friends,sex, and go to less parties. But I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. I'm also more alone than I ever have been in my life but I don't mind that. If I found out I had cancer I probably would want to kill myself so I wouldn't have to suffer, what could be, debilitating pain and misery.

I'd rather have cancer than be neurologically typical

Well, let's find how many posts on cancer forums say "This is bad but at least I don't have Aspergers...."

I agree with this point as well. Autism is not the problem. It's the experts and the majority of the NT population that's the problem. Anything that's different from their rules of living is seen as a horrible disease that needs to be eradicated. The world has changed in a lot of ways. There are also lots of things that haven't changed, such as the average person's attitude towards autism. They refuse to educate themselves about ASDs. They don't take the time to sit down with us and ask us about our own opinions on this matter. They feel that it's much easier to believe the experts, than it is to believe those of us who are on the spectrum.