If you could have chosen before you were born....

Post Reply New Topic

Years ago (had I known it was AS giving me so much difficulty) I would have certainly said yes... now, I'm not so sure...
It would certainly make things easier, but I really like the person I am now, so I dunno...

If I had to choose, I would be NT. If I was NT, I would be more social, and I would have been in a relationship at an earlier age. Oh, well...

You never know. You could be an introverted NT and choose not to be in a relationship until later in life. At least you'd have the power of choice.

Why do you have to choose before you were born? Why can't you choose now?

It would depend on whether or not I would lose my musical talents along with the AS, if I were to choose being born NT. This is just a hypothetical question the OP asked - regardless of it being impossible, etc. etc.

It's in order to make it a logical dilemma instead of a moral or emotional one...

**Not that it's turned out that way. Lol.

NT.


If NT was not an option, then I would even consider being born with a trait or two more. (Let's say a lack of facial expressions and a poor eye contact.) I believe that that way I might have got support in social things before going to school (& getting bullied for multiple years).

i do not do what i ought to do. i often think (on rare occasions) that i "ought" to have done this or that. that makes me "ought-istic" i guess.

i am complacent owning my brain. in fact i am very chuffed at being given my brain by evolution. i know that i will die before i make any change to human lives, but that is not a problem. i do not care what direction humanity is headed in, and i will not be remembered by anyone else other than who knows me when i die, and when those people who remember me also die i will be completely gone.


my 100 years of life experience (if i get there) is insignificant in the scheme of things.

a 100 year old person can not give you a description of the shape of the himalayan mouintain scape that is perceptibly different than a modern description.


we live for a very short amount of time, and i guess that is what makes people's lives that much more valuable.
they only exist for a snippet of time, but they are so vast in their experience that it seems like a waste for them to simply cease to exist and their memories and experiences and opinions just rot away and are eaten by insects and recycled into an unthinking system of inevitability.

There is no AS and there is no NT; they are mearly labels that us, humans, have created and defined and are not the law of the universe.

This. So much this. Exactly this. Can this be added to the header of WrongPlanet?


In my case, it is not so much that I can't decide as it is a case of "I don't think it should be decided."

It has been said by many wise thinkers that everything has a reason for happening. There is a reason, I would like to believe, that I was born with the specific strengths and weaknesses that I have. Sure, there are many times that I wish that I was less forgetful, less sensitive, less clumsy, less emotional, less clueless, less..."disabled" isn't the right word, but it's the right gist...for the sake of my parents, and there are many times that I regret having inflicted so much hardship upon them. It has been confided in me, however, that me not being the typical teenager has actually made things easier on my father, as me not going out much and me being the type of person that I am means that my father has less reason to worry about what I may be doing when I am out; me being emotionally sensitive means that I do not lash out or have long arguments with my parents, as doing so would be psychologically and even physically painful for me. Betty J. Eadie had speculated in her book Embraced by the light that children with disabilities exist so that their loved ones and their communities can be taught about compassion, about selflessness, about humility, and about dedication; I believe that this is true for anybody born with, in, or of a more difficult circumstance.

Autistic, "neurotypical," ADHD, bipolar, schizophrenic, Down Syndrome, William's Syndrome, or whatever other neurological and physical uniquenesses we may have, we all contribute to the richness of the human experience by being exactly who we are; even when things may seem difficult or cumbersome, even when it seems like our challenges are nothing but burdens upon those we love, there is something that can be learned and that can be gained by our experiences. Therefore, I believe that choosing to be one way or the other is futile in and of itself, as every type of person is as needed as every other type of person.

Oh goodness, that is a hard decision. I think I would choose to be born with AS. Most days I wish I was normal. But then there are the days when my obsession with books finally pays off and I get a rare opportunity (such as handling and examining one of John Calvin's works, or seeing one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta), I feel satisfied with what I've done and who I am, or one of my struggles finally pays off.
Being an NT could have spared me a lot of pain and helped my life be easier, but because I've had to fight for the few friends I've had and to make good grades at the college I attend I think I've gotten quite a bit out of life. Facing discrimination, prejudice, and misunderstanding is hard and I'm still learning about the vast new world of AS, however AS has made me who I am. I do not want to give up who I am with all of my failures, struggles, and successes.

Again I would have chosen the NT life, without no regrets.

Sure, the average NT life isn't the golden ticket to paradise, but it'd just be nicer to have more ability to fit in more and make friends a little easier and not appear so standoffish. OK some NTs can be odd and standoffish and shy and lonely or whatever, but usually they may only appear standoffish if they have something like social phobia or an anxiety disorder, or are very shy, or are just choosing to be standoffish or whatever. But me, I appear standoffish even if I smile and say hello to people, which makes life very hard because I try all these things and it just feels like I'm flogging a dead horse, and then people have the cheek to criticise and say I'm not helping myself and alienating myself. It's not that I'm choosing to. It's just that I now know my standoffish look that chases some people away and I can't seem to do a lot about it. It makes me very depressed.

Standoffish means distant and cold in manner, unfriendly. uncompanionable, reserved in body language.

I would never choose to have the outer personality type (my inner personality isn't like described above). Who would choose to be like that?

Last edited by Joe90 on 13 Jun 2013, 2:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It depends on the day. Today I voted NT. On days when I see how hard it is to keep a job and merely survive.

Assuming that autism is the right diagnosis for my issues, I would have chosen to be born NT. Mainly because of my beautiful children and my partner. Then again, I would not have had the same children and likely not the same partner if I was NT-... It is a tough one to call.

On good days I love my focus, my different creativity, my intelligence and how much I enjoy my own company. On bad days I am excessively tired, feel "wrong" and constantly get entangled in misunderstandings with my partner. If I could have the world adjust ever so slightly to how I function then I would be all the more comfortable in my own mind.

There are already a lot of "if there was a cure, would you take it?" threads here. AFAIK this question hasn't been asked until now. The main difference between the questions for me was that with a cure a lot of people feel their personality would be killed, that they're not allowed to stay themselves, while this gives you the opportunity to go back to start and play again from square one, knowingn nothing but being NT.
Another problem with a cure is that if you're already an adult, you'll still have a hard time fitting in because of what AS has already done to your life. It is likely that it has already caused problems for your education or employment, and if you're part of the 80% unemployed Aspies, you're not gonna be seen as en employee a boss would love to hire; they're very wary of people who for whatever reason have been out of work for a long time or never even been a part of the workforce.
A third thing is that a cure might have horrific side effects.

This question sidesteps all those problems.


Oh and Joe90, I assume to be born into the same family as now. It wouldn't cost you that.

^^^This. Don't mess with mother nature.
Each one of us is a unique expression of the human genome, the end product of millions of years of evolution.
In a way, we are all that is left of everyone who came before, the end result of all our ancestors. Why not just hang on and enjoy the ride. Genetic diversity and neuro diversity serve a higher a purpose.
That being said, I like being me. I don't want to be any other way or any one else.