The day Autism become "curable" is a day I dread.

Post Reply New Topic

I don't know if anyone has stopped and taken the time to think about this, but it is scary if the term "curable" is liberally applied. Think about it.

Science moves forward, always will, and always has. With said advancement comes new findings, both wanted and unwanted, both sane and insane.

My fear, for the foreseeable future, is when Autism's cause is found. What would happen if the cause, whatever it is, is found, and becomes public knowledge?

First, let us look at some examples. If a soon to be parent with a terminal and/or detrimental condition was told their child would have it, would said parent want their child to endure the suffering they did and will? Or, take a parent who does not have it, but they are told their child will have it. If all signs pointed to the child having a miserable life, would a mostly uninformed parent allow their child to suffer through all the things that common perception indicates would happen?

The outcome would be a decline over-time of autistic diagnoses, and most people would accept it because they will be happy with individuals not going through it.

And the reality?

As anyone here should know, there is no way to "cure" something that makes us ourselves. Would you want your personality cured? what about your emotions, your reactions, how you take in stimulus.

But, as science continues on, Autism will never be cured. It will be prevented.

It would be genocide, but not one of politics or ideals. One of destroying an aspect of human indivuality.

And once it starts, would it stop there?

Sorry if this offends anyone, but this thought scares me.

You're not the only "anti cure" person.

The subject rarely comes up here in the PPR forum, but its a common subject on "General Autism", and folks there who are for a cure are usually the ones who apologize for being in the implied minority who favor a cure. The greater number who oppose it oppose it for something like what you're saying-that they dont want their personalities killed off.

I personally would love a cure. I can't begin to describe how much I'd want one. If there was a cure, but it killed you 10 years after taking it. I'd take it anyway.

I definitely would not want a cure. As for the Aspie with the disability I wouldn't mind if they made a cure to cure the disabilities but not the Asperger. Reason being is that Asperger/Autism is who you are. I don't really consider it a disorder, i like to think of it as a different group of people who think differently but that's just my opinion and I'm not saying that's a fact. The only disorder would be some of the disability that some Aspie have. So it would be "yes that Aspie has some type of disorder wrong with him" and not "yes Aspie is a disorder that needs to be cured" Hope that made sense but I'm sure it didn't. I suck at explaining things really badly haha people always say I have the weirdest or the most outlandish way of explaining things and that my analogies are off the wall bat $h**# crazy.

I really don't see it as part of my identity. It might be perhaps true that it's part of what I've been through but in my own case it feels like a steel cage that got shackled down over me. I get that a cure is something that causes society to say that the right to not take a cure is prohibited or that a person who refuses it will not receive benefits; it's a double edge sword.

I wouldn't waste my time hoping there is one or hoping there isn't one, I perhaps absolutely anguished for a way to overcome the disability side of it through my 20's, but I've adjusted to life at this point and I get that a lot of people get washed down the drain by situations that are out of control - accepting that it happens is part of growing up. I suppose if it did happen and I was in my fifties or sixties I might see if whatever it did was enough to give me even a slightly different perception of life or a new experience to explore by that point. Otherwise I'm not planning to hold my breath waiting.

There are far too many causes of autism for autism to be "prevented" through eugenics.

Autism wont be cured any time soon. So dont hold your breath either fearing, or anticipating, a cure.

The irony would be if markers were found & so using whatever method, births of autistics was prevented. Assuming a genetic cause, the gene sets responsible would then become more and more prevalent over time until nearly half the human population carried them. Most non-managed births would result in an autistic person, and so the world population would plummet. Weeeell, in first world nations with nationalized health care, anyway.

Insofar as a "cure" rather than a preventative measure, I have my doubts it could ever be possible. Then again, I don't see autism as a single monolithic disease, or even a single monolithic set of atypical features. It's a name for a group of people who have x out of y atypical features or behaviors. As such, some may have a, b, c, and g while others diagnosed seem to have a, g, h, and i.

Now, what if individual bothersome or honestly difficult atypical features or behaviors could be alleviated *when the person wants them to be*? I for one would love to be able to do certain things that currently I cannot, so long as I still remain me.

If I were to really express what scares me about autism, particularly with what people are saying about the wide variety of causes, it's that the human genome could be unraveling.

The really grim side of our basis on genetic building blocks, part of why I try not to laugh to hard at the transhumanist movement partly because I understand their logic, is that what makes healthy genes is antithetical to a healthy society and tends to maximize human suffering (think Sparta healthy, suburban Washington state unhealthy). There was a special on TV several years ago with the suggestion that during our cave days we slew most of our alphas, theoretically because they got to be a bit like monsters that held the tribe hostage. Now, unfortunately, we find that civil society is killing us. The overall message seems to be that humanity, as any sort of forward-yearning animal, is both damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.

It would be great if the cure(s) were truly voluntary. I do not think it would be. I think there would be finiancial inducements to take it and financial penalties if the Autistic choses to keep thier Autism. Employers could fire or not hire people who refuse. Insurance would not be available or the rates would be tripled for refusenicks. Of course for anybody under 18 it would be ultimately not thier choice but thier parents. Probably 90 or more percent of parents would choose a cure such as behavoiral therapy that deflects the autism when the basic brain wiring of a person is being formed in the very early years of life rather then a percieved future of no friends, no jobs for thier offspring and finiancial ruin and no sleep for themselves

People would percieve no need to accomadate somebody who chooses to be "diseased". A refusal could be seen as a trait of mental illness.

The "cure" is too kill us all off, there will be prenatal Autism screenings eventually and they will eliminate us before we're even born. Look at what is happening with Down Syndrome, Autism is the natural next step. Abortion will be encouraged.

They can't do that with autism. It has many causes, and it's probably caused by many different mutations. Or maybe it's environmental.

Down Syndrome has one cause: Three Chromosome 21's instead of two.