I don't want to be an Aspie. I want that cure.

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wat does autism do to u? long sotry short, it causes u not to be able to learn basic social skills. the damage is already done. taking a pill would make no difference.

Lol no not finally, I've been saying this for quite some time as well .
Only I don't tend to do it in a "positive" way so people get all upset at me, as if I wasn't telling the truth or something.

To those who want the cure, I think it would be helpful to break it down, look at what you want to do, what you hope for. This is very relevant to the concept, because a "cure" would be able to change some things but not others.

What parts of you, as you actually are, do you want to keep?

And what parts do you want to change?

What are you hoping to accomplish in those changes?

Yeah, I'd advise you not to be picking up money off the sidewalk. People will think you're some homeless person.

Exactly. It is the actual operational process of the brain and probably would require brain surgery to correct. The catch is the type of brain surgery that would be required to "fix" AS is fully impossible with modern medicine and won't exist untill long after all of us here are dead.

That leaves us with two realistic options.
A) Accept life as miserable and wallow in sorrow untill death.
B) Proactivly seek ways to improve the quality of life and use the functions of AS to their fullest and lead a meaningful, happy, and productive life.

Suicide is not an option. That is for the weak, cowardly, and ignorant.

When I see someone say "I want a cure" and then list their reasons, almost all the reasons could be fulfilled if autistic people were fully accepted into society--and the rest would be much simpler to take care of. Let's say you're completely overwhelmed by sensory overload--well, if society accepted us, people wouldn't mind turning off radios, installing incandescent light bulbs, or selling comfortable, tagless clothing. Or maybe you have trouble understanding facial expressions and emotions--if society accepted us, people would have no trouble with being told, "I can't tell what you're thinking; you have to say it."

I think to change AS to NT you would have to do even more than is required to completely brainwash a person--more widespread than a lobotomy (which, after all, only affects one area of the brain). I.e., it would be very much like killing the person and re-writing his brain as someone else. Oh, and it would lower your IQ, because your peak subscore is weighted more heavily when they calculate your total IQ; so evening out the usual autistic subscore gap would obviously lower your IQ closer to your own average. For me, that's a loss of almost 10 points. You'd have to re-learn everything--speech, sensory processing, and movement are all affected by autism--meaning you would probably start out as an infant in an adult's body, just as though you'd had a massive brain injury... which, in effect, is exactly what this would be. You wouldn't be able to take advantage of the infant brain's huge amount of flexibility, either--more IQ loss. Chances are, an Aspie with an average IQ or a big subscore gap would be lucky to turn into an NT at all. Mild mental retardation is the more likely result. Even a genius with a small gap would end up only "high normal"... 110, maybe. If that. The AS brain is specialized; that's its strength. Remove that strength, and you end up with mediocrity--and you don't have a childhood to specialize and acquire talents, the way people born NT do.

But, then, you'd be NT, right? And you'd magically get a girlfriend and a job and people would stop bullying you and you'd go out to concerts and clubs and sit in front of the TV to relax and never EVER again have a wonderful, obsessive interest that's almost like falling in love, or notice all the little details in the world around you that nobody else sees, or have the odd mix of high-and-low skills that makes you uniquely YOU... Oh, and you get saddled with a bunch of NT-type problems in exchange for the autistic-style ones.

Really, really not desirable. At all.

That's really the myth, isn't it? Yes, to those who believe it, may I repeat: myth.

I have two completely NT sisters and a completely NT mother. I am more NT than AS, but have AS traits. One sister has never and probably never will marry, although she would have liked to (men see her too much as a buddy, I guess) and isn't fond of her job, but it pays the bills and she can live with the boredom (I guess that is the biggest gift she has, to be able to not care if she's bored, and it definitely has it's upsides, I'd say). The other sister creates that perfect vision of success, but I know her well enough to know how much is just vision. She has her own demons to battle. They are just different than my husband's or child's. She is one of those people you would think has it all - very social, everyone likes her, great job, runs with important people, and so on and so on. And my poor mother has spent more of her life sick with worry about that sister than either of her other daughters, for reasons that aren't mine to share here, just trust me they are there.

The only point being, really, is be careful what you wish for. You rarely get what you think you will.

Last edited by DW_a_mom on 17 Oct 2008, 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can agree with and confirm what DW_a_mom said. I benefited from several people who could see a path(several) that I could not and by trusting in them, it got me employed, and not some meaningless little job flipping burgers. I was matched to a job that is actually somewhat hard to fill.

To be precise, I was fitted to a job that was looking for someone like me. An Aspie. Though they didnt know they were looking for an aspie.

Problem with this is that it will never fully happen. No group deemed outside "Normal" has ever been fully accepted. If they were we wouldn't need laws against discriminating against those groups.

My life has been so much richer and more interesting than most of the "normal" people I grew up with. And really, once I began to understand how they see the world I started feeling sorry for them. Learn to enjoy your own company enough that you can be selective about the people you associate with. The friends you do make will feel like they've discovered something special, since you'll probably be one of the most interesting people they know.

While it's tough to affect on a large scale, it does happen on smaller scales. When you have a diverse but small population at a school, for example, the simple fact that they are together every day and don't have large enough sub-groups to cling to mean that everyone truly integrates. My son's elementary school was/is like that. We had a little bit of everything there: racial, economic, religious, languages, abilities/disabilities, and more. 300 kids in the entire school. They all learned to get along naturally, from the nature of the situation. And, well, maybe a few shared ideals in the way of diversity from all the parents. Point being, my son was really accepted there, and admired for his gifts. As was the poor child who had been to 5 different schools and was emotionally disturbed. And so on. When everyone is different from each other, there aren't enough from any one group for like to cling only to like. I love that environment.

So you would recommend that african Americans with light skin try to pass for white? That gays should stay in the closet? Do you think it would also be a good thing if we could somehow bleach all the black people white, and tinker with gay brains until they turned straight (and probably badly damaged)? Obviously not, but isn't it very similar to assuming that Aspies are better off cured simply because society will treat them better?--which isn't even assured; there are plenty of NT outcasts.

The solution to prejudice is NOT to try to be the same as the majority; it's to be obviously, blatantly different until people realise you are not going to hide anymore; until they either deal with it and accept you or get dealt with by the new laws your openness is bringing into existence. It may never be perfect; but then, is the world ever perfect, even for the majority?

The damage is done... so....
I get very happy when I read stories about very young autist children getting well on a diet free from milk and gluten.
We worked mostly with children in our research. Then the damage need not become so great.

Still, I know a lot of grown-up people getting much more satisfied with their lives on diet.

Its funny, when I was a kid, we didnt know so much about the spectrum, asperger etc. So I imagined I was kind of crazy.
But still I managed to get four nice kids and a university degree....
And lots of love...

I tried diet only three years ago. I was 42 at the time.
It worked wonders on the things in my life I didnt like Tiredness, sosial phobia, not being able to do my taxes or pay my bills in time.
I got "more normal"

The cure will not take away your memories or your feeling of self.

Some parts of your creativity may be affected though.

I dont write science fiction stories anymore

Another thought: is it really normality the world needs just now?
When a horde of people are rushing towards the cliff, is it really that bad if someone says "hey, lets try the opposite direction for a little while"?????

I feel like that sometimes, but I am still proud to be an Aspie.

Just think of all the famous, amazing and rich people who are Aspies!

Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak (few people know him, he started Apple and invented the personal computer) Steve Jobs (runs Apple today, invented the iPod... Thats just very very very few, do some research, there are so many successful Aspies.

And saying having a high IQ wont help you in life is ridiculous!

Also, with the interest and knowledge can come skill, coz if you enthusiastic about something you can learn how to master it, for example, I am very good at computers, coz thats my interest.

Like I said earlier, if your interests skills can tie in with a good career, you'll probably be pretty happy. However, when your interests/skills are not conducive to any kind of career (at least any you or others can see), then your life will probably be more miserable.

Why is it when people talk about Aspies they talk about the ones who are famous for their computing?