Will a cure for Aspergers be found soon ???
ASPartOfMe
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It does seem too complicated to cure. But I have been around long enough to have seen many "impossible" things come to fruition so it would not surprise me to see a cure in my lifetime.
I think it is fairly likely there will be a cure for some of the important "symptoms" .
I think there will be bad consequences both intended and not intended.
I most definitely believe either implicitly or explicitly people will be forced to take the cure. I do believe the severity of pressure to take the cure will vary by location. My selfish hope is that since older adults with autism have been considered hopeless and thus ignored that if a cure happens they won't bother forcing it on us.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 19 Mar 2014, 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A few times in the last few years, my father has chirped excitedly to me that apparently scientists are finding ways to "make neurons bounce differently" in the brain, which apparently is the precursor to a cure for Aspergers. I'm not imminently scared of being forced to take a cure in the next few years or so. I think, however, if a cure were made available, my parents would pressure me endlessly until I gave up the ghost and agreed for treatments.
I could find no concrete information on anything my father talked about. However, my father gets giddy at the prospect of a cure for me. He seems to think it will make me less anxious and allow me to lose my inhibitions. I sort of agree.... The only thing, however, is that I think my anxieties are more "learned" as the result of decades of repeated failing in life-situations. I feel like even if I was "cured," i would not forget my whole life history and every negative event that shaped my current personality as an adult. I think he would be upset when I did not just start acting like a type-A alpha male overnight after being cured.
This is what I sort of tried to explain to him, but I don't think it came over very clearly; Even if I was cured, I still have not had the key 30 years of formative life experiences that would allow me to function as a healthy adult. If I had been a 30 year old NT, I would have a lifetime of networking, making friends and connections, and doing everything to build the basis for a strong adulthood. However, having AS all of these years, I've sort of lived as a marginal indivdual who has never integrated into mainstream culture or learned how to interact with others. Even if I was just "cured," I would basically be horrendously "behind" and starting from square-1 at age 30. I could only get the most menial work, if that, and I doubt I could hold it. I never learned how to do the "little tricks" like making effective small talk, and these things are crucial for holding entry-level jobs.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that by the time you are an adult, it is not just having AS or not having AS, but what kind of construction you have built up to base your life on. I think if I was a kid in public school, and I was at the same basic level as everyone else, I would accept a cure with no hesitation. For me, however, I think it is too late now, as everyone has passed me by and lapped me several times.
I know a cure is hypothetical, but these are sort of my thoughts regarding if I was being forced or pressured to take one. I would sort of feel like I no longer knew who I was, but thrust into a weird and unfamiliar world and expected to function instantly.
check out this book i read recently, on the subject of hypothetical cures for autism: The Speed of Dark
it's fiction (near-future sci-fi), but it applies. it's also a great read, but more importantly it made me think about how much autism is a part of my own identity and how i and my life would be different without it if it were possible to have surgery or pop a pill and be "normal".
CockneyRebel
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