Why so much opposition to curing Aspergers?

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I don't think the difference between syndrome and disease is merely semantics. It's a very important difference. A disease has a definite cause and may be curable. A syndrome is a different ball of wax entirely.

Honestly, I hate calling it a syndrome, because the word syndrome implies that something is wrong with us.

I would certainly be a different person if I didn't have AS but I don't think I would like that person.

Look, people, AS, at least for me, is a BIG problem. It is NOT like being left-handed (you can just write with your left hand, it's not a problem if other people are rational about it). It is not like being black, since the problem there is just discrmination (and not discrimination PLUS inherent difficulties). I want to socialise but can't, even though I have tried and tried. Of course the attitudes of many NTs make it worse, but there is a lack of ability that is the real problem here. I don't want to lie to myself by telling myself that other people are the problem.
The isolation I have experienced due to AS is awful, really awful. I have tried everything I can think of, and it has only gotten worse. I wouldn't say everything about AS is negative, but I would say overall it is an awful condition. Other neurological conditions like epillepsy at least allow you to make friends. Some aspies manage to socialise enough for them, others don't seem to want to socialise, but many of us feel the need to socialise but can't do it. The result is plenty of misery. saying that without AS our lives wouldn't be perfect is like telling cancer patients that without cancer they would still have problems.
Like epilleptics, it's not our fault and we do not deserve rejection, but our condition is a disadvantage and it inherently causes problems.
I would never choose to have children (given my skills with women there's no chance of it anyway) because I would not want to pass on AS to anyone.

willow is absolutley right - not all of us function at the same level, so the highest functioning ones don't seem to understand the problems of the rest - exactly like the less sympathetic NTs.
No offense, but those here that are telling etg1701 to just go and do something about it JUST DON'T GET IT. I cannot speak for him, but in my case, i have done all i can think of - counselling, supplements, looking 4 people with similar interests, imitating NTs, living in different cultures, learning foreign languages, etc. when i was a child, my parents took me to a psychologist, took me to acting lessons, etc. I have progressively become more isolated rather than less. If i'm still going to counselling, it's because i can't think of anything else i can try.
I sympathise with etg1701 in feeling AS is not a positive thing - I am in the same position of wanting to socialise but repeatedly failing.
one comment on evolution & AS: natural selection favours those who produce the most offspring that in turn breed. Period. It doesn't necessarily favour the most intelligent or complex beings. Given that many aspies have difficulties finding a partner, clearly they are not more 'evolved' (which has nothing to do with intelligence, originality, ethics, etc). from the point of view of evolution , the cockroach is far more successful than apes (many species of which are in danger of extinction, while cockroaches are abundant in every continent except antarctica). Social darwinists would do well to remember that the poor usually have more children than the rich, and hence are more likely to pass on their genes (and hence be boiologically successful) than those that are financially sucessful...

People like me have a problem with communication. But does that necessarily mean we are stupid?

No. I'm extremely smart and I have AS. So even if you had a cure, that would fix only the social life of the person. The world will rely on smart people to run it, not extremely chatty yet stupid folks. So the world won't change much. If they cured Autism, that would be better because they are mentally disabled.

Anyway, are brains are hardwired this way. We cannot just go in and change it at will and expect it to be better the next day. And changing the genetics doesn't work either. Which is what Alex always says; it's a syndrome, not a disease. Syndromes can't be cured, but can be treated. Diseases can be cured or treated.

(Disclaimer: I number these points to make them easier to read, rather than one long block of text.)

1. I come from the position of one who hated having AS at first, especially seeing some of what was written in the media, but since then I learnt to accept it.

2. I don't mean to belittle those who are defined as "lower functioning" than I am, or to disrespect those who are defined as "higher functioning" or even NTs. I don't think disrespecting NTs is any kind of solution. (Although I have no time for NTs who disrespect me.)

3. Higher functioning autistics are not the ONLY ones who don't like the idea of a cure. Opinions differ, but I know there are some who have LFA but don't particularly want to be cured.

4. Personally I do not want to be "cured" because if that should happen I would lose an inherent part of myself. (That which makes me unique.) If cured of AS -- would we then become NT? Would we lose the joy of special interests, some of the abilities that come with AS? (It's not all disability, you know) Would I in fact be LESS good at those things in which I take pride?

5. I honestly believe that AS is less painful with acceptance, and now I'm proud to call myself aspie. (This is just my own personal experience.) And without setbacks to overcome, how do we know that we can overcome them?

6. And with acceptance comes confidence. The problem with curebies is not that they are ill-intentioned. It's more that their insistence on "Let's fix all the broken people" is damaging to our self-esteem.

For many of us, Asperger's is a part of our identity.

While I'm not opposed to the idea of Autism treatments, I am thoroughly against 'cures'. It's more than just semantics of 'not technically a disease'.

The Autism Cure. movement bears a striking resemblance to the movement to 'cure' Homosexuality.


If it wasn't for the genocide elements, I wouldn't be opposed to Autism research. (Already, Children that are likely to be Autistic are being aborted). So yeah, that's kind of why I am against cures.


Now as far as helping people overcome the various individual negative aspects? I have no objection, so long as it is by their own choice.

Aspergers is a part of a person not a cancer which needs to be cut out.

I can live with me. But others want me to change. So if I can change, then maybe people will like me more.

It should be embraced, it is the NTs that are sick.

Our time is soon.

Okay..

I think that I can sympathize.

For the subject matter of being "cured":

If you were an NT and lived as an NT long enough and then, somehow, turned into an aspi - then compare what it would be like then that could be one factor to help form an opinion about that.

-- --

But...

Maybe one has to start thinking - thinking about who they are.

You do not like the pain of being an aspi but that is only the pain that you can see. To say that removing aspi will rid of it is an intuitive link between those things(asperger and suffering).

That is what you are after if you want a "cure". You are after the suffering. Removing that is what? Removing aspergers is what?

-- --

If someone could say good things about you.. wouldn't you think differently? Isn't that another factor?
And for the fact that you do not feel tolarant of your life or yourself: you mask it and call it a symptom. Either that or people are hard to deal with. Isn't this who we are medicating?: They will never learn. But all things have a time when they come.

As for me, my world is full of minds that listen. It will always be - even if I die.

In a society that fault finds in everything that is a part of who we are, we call those things a disorder. This can't be taken seriously now can it?

Bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, and aspergers autism etc are all diseases. We spend billions of dollars to find the right treatment but, ultimately, we want to rid of it.

Is the answer that the cause is our biology so we should make it normal?

Why is the world turning into crap? Think about it: Eugenics

How can there be a cure?,I've heard of medication to help with some of our difficulties but we are still going to have it whether we like it or not.

I often wish I was NT and envy them because they can express what they are feeling,but I am realistic that ain't going to happen.Medication will just mask some issues and maybe make us less nervous for a time but it's still there underneath.

It affects so many things NT's take for granted,education,jobs and relationships ,I guess though if I knew more people with AS I would feel better able to live with myself and the isolation would not seem as strong.

Personally, I'm okay with being the way I am and would not wish to change.

ProfessorX

I have been researching curing it for several years now. The best thing I have found is using H202 and MMS, at different times of the day. I would recommend researching both, as MMS and Hydrogen Peroxide have both a cumulative healing effect on many AS disorders.