Autism 10 years from now!

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In 10 years time do you think there will be an improvement in services/attitudes towards people on the spectrum or will things be the same as they currently are now?

What could u see improving that will benefit our quality of life a decade down the line? Who knows how things are going to be in 20 years time?


I personally believe there will be a better understanding of the condition in 2023 and in 2033 I think professionals and society will completely understand autism. Dare I say there might even be a cure for autism by then?

I want people to have good lives.

I want people to be able to be their authentic selves.

So . . . I sometimes believe in a cure. In fact, I'm open to the brain damage hypothesis as the cause of some cases of autism, and that's hard for a smart person like myself to acknowledge. But maybe my brain is damaged in some ways and has compensated in others. So, perhaps a fair number of cases of autism are in fact caused by, say, either a funky autoimmune something or some metabolic disorder.

All the same, I want to be accepted and appreciated for the human being I am.

At the same time, parents should be given full information. As long as the parents aren't sold a bill of goods.

And I don't want 'normalcy' to be held up to be the highest value.

I want us to have a variety of organizations, both official and unofficial.

For example, if I don't particularly care for the social events or political activism of one group---and to me, political activism is important---I can try out those of another group.

It depends on my mood. If I am feeling pessimistic, I think that the majority of NT focus will be on securing sources of non-teratogenic potable water for themselves and ways of insuring the automated killing machines that defend the borders don't take out to many citizens in overzealous strikes. The rest of the time they will be trying to prevent their depressed and hopeless children from turning to fundamentalist religious guerrilla groups as a focus for hope and meaning.

When I am feeling optimistic, I think the singularity will be on us and we will all be cared for by the wise rule of the great machine minds (I want to believe in Ian Banks' Culture as my future).... Everyone will have acces to extremely deep knowledge about ASDs but no one will care because individuality will be valued over group identity. Anyone who wants to overcome parts of their genetic heritage will be able to do so with the help of Minds, drones and voluntary inner restructuring.



Unless the religious fundamentalists win or we destroy ourselves, I think you are surely right.


Professionals yes, "society" no--except for people with autistic genes. They don't care and won't care.


People will want to change the parts they find most disabling without eliminating essential things like special interests or hyperfocus--the things that make life worth living. SInce machine assisted self modification will be commonplace, no one will be so interested in normal any more. Oh wait, Im daydreaming about the Culture again.

I think two major things will emerge.

1. Better therapies to help those diagnosed with Autism to have better lives by helping them help themselves when they are young.

2. We'll discover specific environmental factors that trigger/worsen Autism that can be eliminated and reduce the odds of a child being born autistic in the first place or at least reduce its severity.

With the rate that psychology and neurology are evolving, I am not entirely sure that there will be an "autism" in ten years.

Not terribly long ago, "autism" was simply thought to be a severe case of childhood schizophrenia, as were many other neurological differences. In about the middle of the twentieth century, psychology began differentiating-- that is, creating more disorders. In the early 2000's, there were more disorders than ever before. With the newest DSM, it seems that psychology is beginning to do the reverse-- it seems to be grouping instead of differentiating. Perhaps the next DSM, whenever it is released, will have clumped what is now known as "autism," A.D.H.D, N.V.L.D (Nonverbal Learning Disorder), Newson's Syndrome, O.D.D., and perhaps even O.C.D. into something along the lines of "Complex Cognitive-Behavioural Disorder."

Should some forms of autism be connected to a genetic link, then that genetic mutation would likely become a disorder in and of itself, in the same way that Down's Syndrome, William's Syndrome, and Marfan Syndrome are defined and diagnosed by their genetic mutation.

Of course, eugenics is making a very popular and rapid comeback; in the next few decades, each fetus will likely be screened from any genetic defect, and parents will be given the option to abort fetuses with these defects. This may lead to less people with autism and other "disorders" being born in the first place (which, in terms of autism itself, I do not necessarily believe is a good thing, and in terms of disorders like Down's Syndrome I am unsure about).

In any case, it is likely that the effect of electromagnetic waves, such as from a television, cell-phone, or laptop, will be more widely researched and documented, thus leading to parents limiting this exposure to their "at risk" children, which may reduce the incidence and severity of some of these disorders; new ways to eliminate toxins from the system will be brought to light, prenatal care will likely be better, there is a chance that food manufactures will quit putting quite so much poison in their food supplies, and the energy supply will be "cleaner." Basically, I have faith that society is getting "smarter" about the consequences of our lifestyles on our health.

Therapy is also evolving; new ways to give autistic children language, emotional control, and social and life styles are already being developed and tested. In ten year's time, it is likely that therapy and services will be more advanced and more efficient than ever.

On a more pessimistic note, I am not sure that society will be any more accommodating of differences in ten years as it was two hundred years ago; as much as we have evolved technologically and intellectually, we humans seem very slow to evolve socially. It appears to be "human nature" to fear what is different from oneself, and fear often leads to hatred. In many states, including my own, people of "color" are still being discriminated against. Unless the subscribers to the idea of the Age Of Aquarius and the change that their indigo and crystal children will bring are correct, it will likely be quite a while before society comes to fully embrace the fact that difference is not an evil.

Still, awareness is ever-increasing; at the very least, "stimming" and meltdowns will not be as demonized due to the fact that they will be associated with a neurological disorder as opposed to malignant behaviour.

We are currently at a crossroads of psychology; many different roads have lead to our current position. While some people strive for the "cure" to autism, some people strive to make "autism" a culture in the same way that being black and being gay is a culture to many people; while some people strive to eliminate those with genetic and neurological mutations, some people strive to embrace diversity on all levels; while some people strive to accommodate differences for society, some people strive to accommodate society for differences. What roads will be traveled next, I am not qualified to say; I do hope, however, that the road will lead to liberty, prosperity, and happiness, whatever that may entail.