My thoughts about a cure

Post Reply New Topic

As I've said before, I don't know if I have AS. I have been diagnosed as learning disabled with emotional problems like anxiety (especially social anxiety) and depression. The point is, if I could have a cure for whatever it is that makes me "different," I would probably take it. If I could take a drug that would make me happy all the time that I would never build up a tolerance to (so that every time I took it, it would be like taking cocaine or heroin the first time), I would take it in a heartbeat. (For more information on this idea see http://hedweb.com/ and http://www.abolitionist-society.com/ )

I do want to make it clear, that I would never force a cure for any non-contagious condition on anyone, and I would fight to the death for anyone's right to not be cured if that's what they want. I do think, though, that we should tolerate people who want to be cured and not try to deny them that right. I'm not saying that anyone here has tried to deny the right of people who want to be cured, I just want to make sure that you wouldn't; or if you would, I'd like to know why.

Uh, there is no cure for ASD.

We're just wired differently. Heck, they can't cure diabetes. If there was, it would be up to them. It's a personal choice issue.

My thoughts are that you can't cure something that's not a disease. ASDs are not diseases, nor do I wish for people to see them as such.

The drugs that help alieviate depression already make you "different". But I guess what you mean is being less autistic after taking a drug. Well I really don't know if that's possible. I've had some alter experiences a few times after I took some drugs, but I can't really say I was different. I think autism lies in how the brain is wired, think it's quite dificult to come up with something that can change that.

Yea, the thing about the Autistic Spectrum is that it's a fundamental variation in brain wiring, whereas things like depression are a variation in brain chemistry. Brain chemistry is much easily to change then brain wiring. Heck, brain chemistry can actually be changed with sheer willpower (It's called cognitive therapy).

To me, being anti-cure mostly means not forcing treatment on unwilling patients and most definitely not using prenatal tests for the purpose of selective abortions. I can still respect someone who is willing to take a "cure" so long as they fully understand the implications of it. What makes me sick is people saying that medical ethics shouldn't apply to the autistic spectrum.

I don't see anything wrong with wanting to cure specific trait that are interfering with you life. I want to fix my cognitive problems but ASD is who I am.

I agree with this. I think that the word "cure" should not be used in reference to the spectrum because it implies that:

1. There is a way to make an autistic person permanently normal (which there isn't).

2. Everyone on the spectrum should be made normal, were it to become possible.

3. Making the person normal should be the top priority, not improving their quality of life.

What about "treatment" or "change"/"increase ___ "/"decrease____"? There's nothing wrong with wanting to change things about oneself, but I do think it's wrong to try to make someone more normal without regard to that person's wishes or the way in which this normalizing process actually affects them.

Some of the responses to the OP are rather interesting. I, for one, caught the condition in the first post stating "IF."

Alieviating certain symptoms concurrant with AS is a desirable goal. Unfortunately, chemically messing with your brain's wiring often doesn't work the way one would like.

Pops

I'm in two minds about this issue.

On the one hand, AS is not a disease or an illness, therefore it's hard to define exactly what a 'cure' would be. I doubt there will ever be, nor should there ever be, a drug that makes a person on the Autistic Spectrum completely NT.

But on the other hand, there are some negative traits of AS that we could do without. Sensory issues carry no benefits, and life would be nicer without them. If there was a one-off cure to sensory issues, I would take it, but I would be less willing to take a lifelong course of drugs just to alleviate one comorbidity.

And we can change ourselves in many ways without even resorting to drugs or other cures. Okay, there is no way we will ever become NT because our brains are wired differently, but it is possible to overcome problems such as social anxiety without the need for drugs.

I guess "cure" is not really the right word. I agree that AS and other autism spectrum conditions are not diseases. I guess a better way to describe it is "personality modification." I dream of the day when we can choose our personality traits the way we choose what clothes to wear. Unrealistic I guess, but you never know. I would like to be able to go to a job interview or ask a woman on a date without feeling like I’m jumping out of a plane with no parachute (I have a pretty good job now but I want to move from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire to be part of the Free State Project – http://freestateproject.org . I had a girlfriend for two years from 1998 to 2000, I had an almost girlfriend in 2002 but no one since). Sorry for the digression but I don’t know how to describe the problems I wish I could fix without going into detail.

BTW, I talked my psychiatrist last night about an AS diagnosis. She said I do have some signs of AS and that she would help me find someone to test for it, if that’s what I wanted. But she said it would cost $800 out of my own pocket and the benefits of having a diagnosis when your 38 years old are limited. The only thing she said that would change about my treatment would be to be put on Risperdal. I was on that before and hated it; it made sleepy ALL THE TIME. As if I don’t have enough trouble waking up most mornings!

Thanks for the responses, they were well thought out and most of them were informative.

I would be against that even for something that indisputably is a disease.

i think the term cure is really offensive.
AS ans such arent diseases.
however wehn i was younger i did want to be cured
But even though i wonder what life would be like without my AS would be like
i wouldnt want to be cured now.
I wouldnt be me without my AS
and that would really suck

However i wouldnt deny someones right if they wanted to be cured. Like really wanted it. Were sure they wanted it.
However i would try to make them see that having AS is not a bad thing, infact there any loads of benefits of having it.
I would ask them if they were really sure they wanted it. after all they wouldnt be able to go back.
Id also try to make them see that curing someone of AS is taking away who they really are, it is taking away their personality i a way. i would never fight against ppl who want to be cured, But if somebody came to me about it, i would try to make them see the other side too.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, since this is a hypothetical situation that is at this time far from reality, it's hard to know for sure that they wouldn't be able to go back. Some operations are reversible as are the effects of most drugs. One thing I could imagine is a device implanted into the brain to help regulate moods, moderate sensory input, and stimulate parts of the brain that control behaviors that some of us find difficult (like making small talk with strangers or using facial expressions and body language to "win people over.") If such a device were invented it could be removed as easily as it could be implanted. That's a lot of skull splitting and brain slicing, I know, so it shouldn't be taken lightly, but it would mean that no decision would be "the end of the world."

I'm surprised to hear anyone say "sensory issues carry no benefits".

What most people call "sensory issues" are actually a few of the effects of core differences in perception and cognition. Those core differences in perception and cognition carry not "no benefits," but some of the fundamental benefits present in autistic people. "Sensory issues" are not somehow divorced from this, but more like an (often unpleasant) side-effect of something that produces some of the key skills present in autistic people.

That doesn't mean there's no possible way to make the unpleasant parts possible to deal with. Personally, I'm quite fond of tinted lenses, earplugs, and assistance with proprioception. But I do wish people would realize that sometimes the things you hate the most are attached to the things you value the most. The world just isn't that simple.

It's sort of like the gene for sickle cell anemia confers resistance to malaria. You might at first say that sickle cell anemia carries no possible benefits, and you might seem very right considering what it entails, it shortens the lifespan and creates suffering. But if you say that, you're saying it without the knowledge of the fact that the gene that creates it, also enables people to survive to adulthood who otherwise would not because of malaria. And then one could go on to say say malaria confers no benefits, but in fact at one point in history people were deliberately infected with malaria (and then stabilized with quinine) to prevent them dying of late-stage syphilis. And those, unlike autism, are all pretty awful diseases. Yet they still carry potential benefits in certain situations.

So... yes, the things that cause what most people conceptualize as "sensory issues" do also cause benefits. (And some people consider specific attributes of "sensory issues" themselves to be beneficial as well.) Something that feels like something totally awful is not always the entire story to what it really is.

Ok fair enough. What I really meant by 'sensory issues' was the negative side effects, such as aversion to strong sunlight, strong dislike of certain sounds, smells etc.

I know that these are just the outward sign of something that's much more complicated, but even so, there's nothing beneficial about having to either squint or wear a special pair of sunglasses whenever the sun's burning down on a shiny surface.