Would you change your autism if you could

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aspie 777
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09 Jan 2020, 10:39 am

Would you change your autism to be nt?



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09 Jan 2020, 10:45 am

No.

I have lived all my life by overcoming the obstacles that autism presented to me. Were I to suddenly be NT, all of those little victories would mean nothing, and I would essentially become someone else -- an NT version of me, complete with all of the NT behaviors and quirks that we all find so maddening.


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09 Jan 2020, 10:48 am

yes, being able to name world capitals is hardly any compensation for being completely socially inept, unbelievably clumsy and unable to form any meaningful connections at all.


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09 Jan 2020, 11:01 am

So many downsides personally. It would have made life easier. But I don't know who I'd be without all consuming interests. Life would be a completely different scenario. Good question.


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09 Jan 2020, 11:32 am

Yes i would since it prohibits me from working.



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09 Jan 2020, 3:21 pm

Yes, I don't seem to get any benefit from it, just downsides. Unless you include the fact that most NTs couldn't live in such social isolation as I have. If I didn't have autism I'd be able to be independent - I'd be able to drive, I'd be able to work even a full-time job I could make a living on, I'd be able to live in my own place without any assistance, and I'd be able to speak whenever I want to. I wouldn't be a burden on anyone but myself, and really, that's all I want from life.


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09 Jan 2020, 3:27 pm

Absolutely not; it's part of how I see the world and it offers advantages.

I would recommend not internalizing it and making it your identity though. That defeats the happy heart of man--Theodore Roosevelt said once that "Comparison is the thief of joy" and that applies to a lot of autistic people. "Oh, I wish I was neurotypical/didn't have physical needs/hate my sensory problems/etc." Life can be tough sometimes but that's not what it's about.


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09 Jan 2020, 3:28 pm

Not at all. I wish the world were more autism-compatible, but I wouldn't want to change me.


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09 Jan 2020, 4:15 pm

Sure, if I could keep my house, savings, and investments. If I couldn't work I have enough saved to retire right now.



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09 Jan 2020, 6:22 pm

Yes. Yes I would.

I'm not different enough from NTs to completely not be me if I were able to cure my ASD, but I'm different enough from NTs to know what I'm missing out on and feel isolated and miserable. Hope that makes sense.

I'd just love to have that invisible social magnet, or charisma, that attracts other people no matter how nice or weird or mean you are. For once I'd love to be in a group with 2 NT females and not be the third wheel. I'd love other people to text me first and arrange to hang out, instead of me having to text them first. I'd love social friendships to not be awkward, fair-weathered, etc.

But even if I could cure my ASD now, it still wouldn't give me back my teenage years that I socially missed out on. At high school I used to long to be accepted like all the other girls in my class. It just seemed so easy for them. And whenever I did try to be like them, they told me to shut up, go away and stop following them.

And people wonder why I f*****g hate being on the f*****g poxy autism spectrum.


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09 Jan 2020, 7:10 pm

I'd change my autism alright.
Into an autism without a disability in the world I'm living, the very one that can compensate well and adapt in everything -- which is a plausible scenario and a possibility in my case.


And no, I won't get rid of autism and become allistic. More so an NT.
My version of NT, functioning and successful she might be in most areas in life, on top of crappy human norm stuff is likely a despicable character which is better off not existing.
If I were an NT, I won't be an average human NT; I'd likely be a predatory monster in human form, or at least the kind who wanted to be one and act one if she had a chance to.


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11 Jan 2020, 11:34 pm

To be NT? Maybe.

But I have already changed my autism by treating it so that I’m Extremely high functioning. So, yeah, I would.. and I can, so I have. 8)


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11 Jan 2020, 11:37 pm

I would not want to be neurotypical.



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11 Jan 2020, 11:55 pm

I wound change my anxiety for sure, but not my autistic-ness.


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12 Jan 2020, 11:22 pm

Yes.



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13 Jan 2020, 1:30 am

Yes I would. I've spent enough time around NTs to know that most of them don't fit the negative stereotypes often portrayed on this forum.


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