Would YOU take medication that "cured" autism?

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Well, the only reason I can see is that they're doing what they love doing (which is at least somewhat likely if they excel at it), and that it'd feel like a Sophie's choice to them, being likely to not keep doing that in the same way or care less about it, or be more likely to get and keep friends and enjoy personal acceptance.

That doesn't apply to me, and even if it did I'd rather be normal and mediocre. Average sounds like a dream, it's all I want.


Skibum, she said primary school. That's the UK word for elementary school.

Oh, Thank you Skil. That would be better than a preschool perhaps!

You're welcome! It can be confusing with these different terms. Especially secondary school which I thought was the same as junior high, but apparently junior high is now called middle school, and is the step between elementary/primary school and secondary school/high school. I wonder who came up with that!
Here the word middle school hasn’t been used since my grandparents’ days.

We have a daycare just outside where I live, and an elementary school close enough that we can hear it here on very quiet days. I think in noise level it's about the same, but more limited in a school due to the children spending more time indoors during lessons.

By cure, I mean exactly what you stated: "something that would remove an individual from meeting the DSM 5 (in the US) definition of autism." It's hard for me to imagine such a cure is even possible since, as some of the other posters have pointed out, autism is so complex. But it is interesting to speculate anyway.

just the same as I am not taking a "cure" for being lesbian, would not take this, I am who I am

I don't think I would take it.

All I would like is something to make sensory issues less of a problem but not the other stuff. I like being myself, having my obessions with certain topics, I like my individualism, my characteristics, the knowledge I gathered through my obsession and my goal in life (which is definitely caused by that obsession too ) and I don't think I would want to give up being myself just to be "yet another NT".

To answer the OP's question - personally, yes, I would.

Of course, I also respect the views of those who wouldn't - and I certainly don't believe that anyone should be coerced into taking medication that they don't want to, unless it's essential in order to prevent them from becoming a danger to anyone else (which I doubt is the case with the vast majority of people on the spectrum). Nonetheless, I'm fairly confident that I'd be happier and more fulfilled if I didn't have AS.

I was recently diagnosed with AS and have been trying to catalog what's "me" and what's "AS", when I know that the two are inseparable. When I saw this question though, my first thought was "Hell no!", and that's what I'll have to stick with. I don't want to be NT, they seem very shallow, sexually obsessed, and although my naivety may get me into a predicament or two, I value it. I don't want to have average intelligence and a wide variation of interests without the cognitive means to absorb the complexity each of those interests hold. I'd rather have my singular, detail-oriented viewpoint, and quite honestly screw most people. In my experience the majority of people on earth are out for themselves and claim to care about you to support their convoluted agenda's. If I care about someone, it's genuine, if I don't like someone my first instinct isn't to include them and then write them off once I have what I want from them, it's to just write them off immediately. I don't want to need a connection to someone in order to define myself or complete myself and I like the pictures in my head. I've been on medications before and it was akin to being a zombie, I lost a vital part of myself on these medications, I can't imagine what it would have been like to never connect that part of me to myself again. I would be lost and I think that's what a cure would do.

I have Aspergers, and I voted No I wouldn't.
I think If this had been about six years ago or so I would.

But I'm pretty content with my life now.

Also, I don't know whether I would 'me' anymore without AS, like others have said. I also wouldn't want the good parts of AS to disappear... because there are good parts.

I see it as both a curse and a gift.

xx

No, I wouldn't. My autism is what makes me who and what I am. Why would I change that?

*Sigh* I probably would, not because I WANTED to, but because I know that if such a cure existed, everyone who knew me or was close to me would want and expect me to take it. I learned very early on in my childhood that it wasn't what made me feel safe, comfortable and happy that mattered, it was what everyone else wanted that was important. Learn how to cope with sensory overload without melting down or needing your coping item and mother loved you; "act un-cooperatively" and she squeezed your arm and was angry at you. So yeah, I probably would take it, but more out of a twisted sense of duty than anything else.

Got to agree here. If it wasn't for Aspergers I doubt I'd ever have developed an interest in developing software.

am severely autistic,low functioning and need twenty four hour two to one specialist care however am at peace with self and absolutely hate it when people assume those of us with LFA need curing and HFA doesnt,we deserve to live the life we have to if we want.

am proud to have got to where am today.

Nothing short of amazing where you have gotten and you should be proud of yourself and accomplishments! We are who we are born to be, why I wouldn't change who I am either! You probably have done more them most to challenge the stereotypes and educate others about the spectrum. Don't ever let anyone take that away from you!!

I know people have already stated this but it is also how i feel. It's like asking If i was gay would i take a pill to cure my homosexuality? Of course i would not, i am happy with who i am. It's patience and understanding that i need thus it's patience and understanding that i shall try to project.

I just wanted to comment, with respect to being gay versus being autistic, that one's sexuality is not a disabling condition in the sense that, on it's own, it is not necessarily going to interfere with one's ability to function on a daily basis, or to thrive in life.

Yes, being gay presents a unique set of issues, but those issues are almost entirely a result of people's/society's prejudices about homosexuality. Autism, on the other hand, presents issues that would be problematic regardless of the existence of stigmas and prejudices.

Of course, if acceptance and understanding increased, our lot as people with autism would improve. But understanding and acceptance alone would not be enough.

I'm glad to see so many of us accept ourselves for who we are, autism and all...but it's clear that many of us are struggling enough that we would seriously consider a safe, effective alleviant for our autism-related problems.

Last edited by capri0112 on 05 Apr 2014, 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.