Why Asperger's should be separated from Autism

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Whenever I try to explain Aspergers to people I explain that it is FORM of Autism but not Autism and that its an Autism Spectrum Disorder

And then try to make it clear that there are many variations of it

I agree that the two can't be lumped together because I am fully aware of how many degree's of autism there are, my mom works in a group home and as an Educational Assistant in a school

I can understand why lower-functioning autistic people would want a cure, and I've seen it so bad that the affected persons can't even feed themselves or swallow their food

Whereas people with Aspergers are much higher functioning and we don't have that problem (at least not any that I know of,If I am wrong here in anyway please feel free to correct me)

But, whether we are high functioning, or low functioning, we ARE part of the Autism Spectrum, it's only normal to get them confused sometimes

Again, if anything I've said in here is incorrect please feel free to correct me directly, I don't mind

I agree with you about there being a lot of ignorance here as to what many autistic people go through.

But I have been involved with autistic people from all parts of the spectrum for a really long time. I have also been involved with disability rights in a more general sense. And there is a lot you don't understand too.

First off the idea of resisting a cure for autism comes from autistic people before Asperger's was even a diagnosis. Most people don't know that because of the large amount of people diagnosed with Asperger's who now exist in these online communities. But the idea comes from autistic people who were diagnosed before AS officially existed.

Another interesting thing not a lot of people realize is that among people who can communicate a desire not to be cured, there is no apparent correlation between resisting a cure and ability level in other areas. There are as many people who don't want a cure among people who had no viable communication until... 12, 20, 30, even later, as there are among people who have always been able to use words to connect to their thoughts.

While such people now have word communication and differ from those who don't, they did not differ in any obvious way from those who don't, for a huge part of their lives. And even if they did differ in some way, the fact that not wanting a cure ranges from "aspies" to autistic people who never had a way to communicate until adulthood, suggests that people who currently have no way to communicate their desires, would be just as divided on the question of cure as are people on every single other part of the spectrum.

So every single part of the spectrum who can (whether always or only after 30 or 40 years in institutions) communicate their wishes, includes people who both do and don't want cures. Which means probably those who can't (or can't yet) communicate their wishes would also include both people who do and don't want cures.

Aside from that, there are many ways to look at disability of all kinds. You are very obviously only aware of the medical/individual model of disability. (Dont confuse medical model with medical treatment. Doctors can exist who don't use the medical model yet still treat patients.) The medical model says that disability is purely an individual thing. That all or nearly all problems related to being disabled come from the disability itself. That disability is either wholly or mostly negative. That disability is basically something wrong with a person, a defect. And that the only good solution to this defect and all problems that go with it, is to be cured, or at least made as similar to a nondisabled person as humanly possible.

However there are many different ways to look at disability and the problems that come with being disabled that are not the medical model. Many disabled people have absolutely no desire for a cure even from conditions which are quite severe and shorten the lifespan. Resistance to cures is not an autistic thing, or an aspie thing, it is something that exists among every sort of disabled person there is.

This is probably a very new idea to you though because you even equate disability shame with the condition a person has instead of what the person has been taught about it. Here is a good article (click through because it has many parts) on disability shame:

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/life/ ... eaks1.html

Being ashamed and embarrassed is not just the natural consequence of incontinence or any other aspect of being disabled. There is nothing naturally undignified about it. People have to learn embarrassment and shame about things like that. It doesn't just pop up out of nowhere.

The answer to shame is not a cure. That doesn't even make sense. The answer to shame is learning there is nothing to be ashamed of. I was taught lack of shame for incontinence by example, by those around me treating it like it was no big deal, even using humor sometimes. But the fact that you think his being ashamed of how his body works is answered by a cure, that tells me you really believe the bad things that happen to disabled people are because we are disabled.

Believe it or not, being in institutions is not a consequence of someone's disability either. I am multiply impaired and meet criteria for admission to both the nursing home type of institution and the ICF/MR kind of institution. The reason I can live outside of them is not a reduction in severity of disability but rather the fact that in my state you can get waivers so the money that would be used to institutionalize you, is instead used to take care of you in your own home.

There is nothing good about institutions that cannot be done better outside of them. And there is a lot bad. My state has done away with large developmental institutions, does not even have many small institutions like group homes, and most people with the various DDs live in our own homes with or without roommates. This isn't because DDs are less severe or cured. It's because we have a commitment to providing care in the home.

I respect people who want a cure but you can't just assume everyone in your position feels the same as you, or that everyone faced with the same problems sees cure as the only solution. I also totally believe many people here are ignorant about many kinds of impairment that go with autism including my own. But people here being ignorant doesn't mean that you know all about how everyone in your position feels, or that it's only natural for everyone in your or your siblings position to feel just like you do. And there are many solutions to the problems you bring up besides turning autistic people into nonautistic people (which is what cure means -- if you're talking about treatment or education don't call it cure because it's not the same thing and opposing cure doesn't mean opposing those things).

Anyway, separating AS and autism on the basis of cure doesn't work because being against cure exists in every single part of the spectrum. And using severity as an argument for cure doesn't work because with every single condition out there severe or mild there are people who do and don't want a cure and people who do. This is because whether someone wants a cure or not is entirely based on beliefs about disability, not based on the actual condition. I am severely disabled and I only want a cure for some things and not others, and this is quite common.

I am on the fence with the whole "cure" thing. Personally, I am against a cure.
Though, on the bright side, I don't think there can ever be a cure.
From what I know about genetics, and what little the scientific community knows about autism in general, I'm willing to bet that there isn't one cause for autism. Ever.
This is a syndrome which affects the entire brain to varying degrees. It's a wiring difference. It might be influenced by factors outside genetics, but it's also heavily genetic.
I am pro treatment, especially for those on the lower functioning end. I think that they deserve to be able to communicate with their loved ones, and express themselves.
Whether it'll be TMS, oxitocin, or something else that helps with the empathy/emotional aspects of autism, I think that it'll be a welcome relief to the families caring for a low functioning autistic. Parents will get to see their child make friends, go to college, possibly even have children some day.

Of course, as with any treatment, it should not be mandatory. It shouldn't be a shot given to pregnant women to make sure their baby "doesn't get autism." It should be a therapeutic treatment for the individual who needs it, and never forced upon anyone.

I'm not so sure that any of us are actually speaking for everyone when we say that we don't want a cure... I think it is being read into, or not enough explanation is given. I don't know how it is for everyone else, but for me... I do not personally want a cure, but I understand others do and that's fine, too. When I say "us", when I am talking, I'm not generalizing... I'm talking about "us" as in those who just wouldn't want a cure... all the people who are in the same boat I'm in.

I never intend that to mean every single autistic/aspie out there...

Just as with anything else... there are going to be people who would want it, and people who won't, no matter what the diagnosis ultimately is... no matter what the functioning level is, there are going to be those who would rather others help them learn and be able to try as opposed to the cure... and there will be those who would take the cure as fast as they could get their hands on it... and those in the middle of course, lol.

When I talk about it, I say "us" a lot... not on purpose, and in no way intending it to mean for everyone with the diagnosis.

When it comes to family members making that decision... maybe it's for the better sometimes, maybe not. Maybe they really will choose what the individual wants and needs, over what would make things easier-and I don't mean just physically easier, but emotionally easier as well.

My fear is that... if a cure ever is discovered... that parents and families will not necessarily try to get out of the person whether or not they actually want it in the first place. They might not know how, and I would not fault those cases... but there ARE going to be those parents that will also just want it because they don't want to try to even work with it... or those parents that cannot accept the diagnosis and want their kids to just "snap out of it".

I've also seen concerning cases, where they express the need and want for a cure due to anger issues... but that isn't necessarily going to fix anything in that aspect... the kid could just have a really bad temper on top of autism.

Diagnosis is also... well, some docs seem to hand it out like crazy, while others absolutely refuse to... so what about someone who really does have it, but has no diagnosis, and wants the cure? How would they access it? What about those who really don't have it and don't know, so they take it? I'm not dismissing anyone's diagnosis, and respect the self-diagnosed as well, because I have seen both types of doctors. Things are so up in the air from one doctor to the next about what it actually is, and how they diagnose... I'd be kind of scared for those docs to get their hands on a cure and start handing it out... and that has absolutely nothing to do with someone's functioning level, but public safety in general, lol.

I'm pretty sure in my case, ignorance is bliss... and a cure would change a lot. I probably wouldn't be nearly as happy as I am the majority of the time if I had a clue what is going on with people around me, lol. Personally, it would just change too much for me. I can't speak for anyone else.

A cure... hmm.

I would like to be able to relate to people with much less effort, make friends and keep them, talk to strangers without worrying how I'm coming across to them, and... I'd like a cure for my migraines.

Seriously though, there are certain elements of my Aspie-ness I don't want to give up. and yet the social and communication troubles cause me distress. Usually it's the way people respond that I find distressing at times.

My brother has a son who is definitely autistic. He is grown up now, and has to live in a group home, over the years my brother was a desperate parent wanting a cure. I have a daughter who is also autistic, but not as difficult to manage as her cousin. At first I wanted to see her grow up as a normal person but then I saw the social nightmare adolescent girls go through, and decided to count my blessings that she was content to stay home, perseverate on historical romances, handbags and writing fiction, and stay out of trouble.

But how many non-autistic people live a life that is trouble free? I'd like to see a cure for narrow-mindedness, prejudice and bigotry, especially against people who can't help but be different, but I doubt that will kind of cure will ever happen...

I am willing to pull for research in better methods of understandng the autistic mind, for treatment for people on the spectrum with effective counseling, so as to learn self acceptance, and learn methods on effectively dealing with bullies and developing successful coping skills that are unique to the individual autistic person.

But a cure... hmmm.

_________________
Never assume you know what I'm thinking, just ask for clarification.
"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal', must necessarily be 'inferior'. " -- Hans Asperger (1938)

I was born low functning autistic and today I probably would have been diagnosed so and forced into an ABA program. I'm often times compared to Temple Grandin who was also born low functning but "grew out" of the serverity of it because of the intensive help she got, I got intensive help (just from my mum) and became more and more high functning as I grew. I personaly believe that if a child with the lowest of the low functning levels, if worked with like my mum and Temple Grandin's nanny worked with us, they too can become more Asperger-ish. AS IS autism. Just a higher varient of it. The only way they will be able to get rid of autism is prevention. If they find the gene for autism, they will advise all unborn babies be tested before they are born and abort them if they have it.

As a person who's HFA, I wouldn't touch a cure, with a 10 foot pole.

I wish people around here bothered to read topics before they blindly come in a post.

I'm not talking about whether a cure is good or bad, or whether you'd take it. I'm talking about people with ASPERGER'S SYNDOME speaking out negatively about the search for treatments or cures for AUTISM as a whole.

I don't give a toss if Aspies don't want to take a cure or find a cure for there miniscule oddities. I do however give a toss about them yelling and screaming about people like my brothers not needing those treatments or cures. If people with AS are going to advocate for AUTISM as whole, they better start being alot smarter about it.