If there was a "cure" to autism/aspergers would u?

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Reindeer
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07 May 2011, 4:32 pm

I wouldn't mind other people getting the NT virus, hehe

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Io
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29 May 2011, 1:39 am

Evil_Squeakheads wrote:

Am I the only one who would take a cure?

lol.. no, you're not the only sane one here. :wink:

Quote:

I don't believe, hypothetically, that if I were to take a cure I would become normal. Even if I gain the social abilities of an NT, my memories growing up as an aspie will still influence me. I would become something that transcends both aspergers and neurotypicality. Being an aspie taught me many things, but the anxiety and paranoia that comes with people-blindness and an overactive amygdala are not something I want to keep. It is having an impact on my life and I am struggling to keep up. Aspergers is not the only thing that makes me who I am, it's not the only thing that formed my viewpoint, and it's not the only thing that makes me different from other people.

Stop being afraid of becoming "normal" if you're cured, because it just won't happen. Neurotypical = / = Normal! Many NTs don't consider themselves normal and hate "normal people" as much as you do. Some neurotypicals are VERY VERY weird and interesting.

This all makes sense, but don't expect too many people here to actually try *reasoning* with you on why they think it's not true. It's a lot easier to just pigeonhole all NT's into one stereotypical monolithic herd. (the way they "all" do with us.. amirite? :roll:

) Of course, I've done this too a few times before out of frustration but it's like some people here think that way seriously.

nostromo
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29 May 2011, 6:20 am

Callista wrote:

Standard response:

1. No, I wouldn't want a cure.

2. This is not because I think autistic people are superior. It is because I want to be myself, and not someone else. Life with autism is a different kind of life, but it is not inferior, and there are more important things than not being disabled. Being myself is one of them.

3. A cure for autism is impossible, and will likely never happen, because we will find a prenatal test long before we find a cure, and when autistic fetuses can be aborted, research will stop.

4. In order to cure autism in an adult, theoretically, one would have to erase everything you had learned, re-wire your brain, and start from the ground up. It would be like having major brain damage and having to re-learn everything like an infant, and there would be very little of your original personality left. You would most likely not recover fully because the adult brain does not have the plasticity that a very young child's brain does.

I should just put this stuff in a text file and copy-paste it whenever somebody asks this question. It should get used about once a week.

I guess that means you've stopped thinking about it.

nostromo
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29 May 2011, 6:25 am

Verdandi wrote:

I don't mind the idea of treatments that make some things easier. I mean, I am undergoing just such a treatment right now (medication for ADHD).

Amazing that taking medication for ADHD doesn't radically rewire your brain and alter your personality (albeit temporarily).
Treatments for Autism wouldn't be anything like that :roll:

Rhiannon0828
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29 May 2011, 5:22 pm

I would not want the cure. How would I know that I was not just trading one set of problems for another, and since I've had forty years to deal with the problems Asperger's brings and I'm still not always great at getting around them, I might really be screwed with a new set! Not to mention that I might not get a new set of gifts, and even though they are hard to acknowledge sometimes, they are there now.

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29 May 2011, 7:21 pm

Temple Grandin wrote:

if I could snap my fingers and become nonautistic I would not do so. Autism is part of who I am.

Yeah and even as much as I feel like I don't want to be autistic, I still feel that curing it would be the hardest for me to do. I am used to the way I am; even when it is very challenging to have HFA with ADHD and Severe Anxiety. I love to enjoy life the way that I know I can. ^_^

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thewrll
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29 May 2011, 8:15 pm

I am glad the thread started stopped posting. It seemed he is attacking all those who dont want to be cured. Maybe hes from Autism Speaks. No I dont want to be "Cured".

AspergianMan
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27 Oct 2011, 6:53 pm

Autism is not part of my personality, it is just part of the way I think and socialize. I have many NT friends, I'm still doing my best to outgrow what I can but the autism will never really go away.

Sparx
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27 Oct 2011, 7:09 pm

I don't know. It's kinda like saying my personality is a disease that needs to be cured.

MagicMeerkat
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27 Oct 2011, 9:44 pm

No f*****g way! If the government came to my door and tried to force it upon me, I'd pop a cap in their ass.

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MakaylaTheAspie
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27 Oct 2011, 9:49 pm

No way in Hell would I take the "cure". It doesn't exist, and it never will.

Autism is like different hair colors. It's just a different neurological variety that's really sensitive.

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Sath96347
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27 Oct 2011, 10:37 pm

No. I could do without the anxiety, but the I've spent 16 years living like this. If it suddenly changed, I would be losing myself. This is who I am. It may not be perfect, but it's me. I can't imagine being 'normal'. I'm not sure I'd want to.

Richax
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28 Oct 2011, 12:47 am

What if it isn't there to be cured!(n)

Joe90
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28 Oct 2011, 11:23 am

I would take it, because I would be able to get involved with people without making a fool of myself. I would just have that social knack what draws them to me. Wow......

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hanyo
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28 Oct 2011, 11:43 am

No, at least not until I read and saw a lot of results and knew how it would affect me. It could make me into a completely different person, one I don't like.

Joe90
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28 Oct 2011, 12:06 pm

Well I'm not saying me becoming NT would make me a happy, problem-free person, because everybody has problems. I don't believe in the saying ''all NTs live a whole life without any problems because they are social''. That is just ridiculous. I'm desperately miserable with my AS condition, but I still don't believe in that. I just think that being NT is easier in some ways because you don't get stared/laughed at by everyone in the street, unless you either choose to look different or if you're weird (like on drugs or if you're a peadophile, etc). But I'm just talking about people in general here. As an NL (neurological), I don't want to be stared at/laughed at by everyone in the street but I still can't seem to avoid it, no matter how normal I know I look. So I'd like to live a life knowing I'm not drawing everyone's attention without doing anything different. *sigh*
Also I haven't seemed to have learnt conformism automatically. I think, compared to most Aspies, I do comform pretty well, but there are still a few things what I don't do what other females typically start around the age of 12, and that's wearing make-up, having a hairstyle, reading magazines, and knowing different names of types of things like names of perfumes, or names of different alcohol, or names of different celebrities, or other things what makes people laugh if you don't know about it. I'm not saying every NT knows everything about this kind of stuff, but they know or are interested in at least one of these, whereas I don't know/not interested in any.

Also, NTs seem to know things. They seem to know the right advice to offer, and be able to help eachother out. The other day my friend got a phone bill through, but she hasn't even got a land phone, and I felt I should have suggested things to make it look like I was interested and empathetic. I was interested and empathetic, but it probably didn't sound like I was to her. Inside I thought, ''how annoying she got a phone bill when she doesn't even have a phone!'' and when I saw she was looking a bit worried, I said, ''yeah, I would be annoyed too. Just phone them up and tell them''. That was the nearest suggestion I could make, but she had already said that, so I couldn't really say much more because I don't know a thing about bills. But other young people who still live at home still seem to know something about bills and stuff, and they seem to be able to offer advice, and the advice suits the upset person and I wonder how people just know these things. I know nothing. I wish I could be more like that, knowing what to say.

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