Offended by the idea of a cure?

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Very few things offend me personally. However, I simply don't relate the comments made by other people to myself. To do so would imply that they are a part of my reference group.

What I'd like to see first and foremost is a cure for prejudice and discrimination against anyone who is different from a quite narrow norm.

I'm not just trotting out the trite PC stuff here (the NT fallacy that you can send people to a few equalities and diversity classes to learn the right, PC jargon and then everything will be ok sort of thing!).

The very notion of a cure arises from this prejudice and discrimination. And that's what I take offence at.

Of course I'd like things in my life to be as smooth as NTs seem to experience. I'd like to be able to do things that NT people take for granted.

But until we get out of the box that the majority group (NT) has constructed for us I'll be avoiding their construction of me as disabled and in need of curing.

I'm not offended by it because one cannot be offended by something that doesn't exist, and is unlikely to come into existence in the near (and probably not so near) future.

But I am offended when ugly things are being done to children in the name of "cure". Or when I come across a parent whose child has died as a result of the "therapy" he/she was subjected to say that she has no regrets, and would have done the exact same thing, were her child resurrected (read: I'd rather kill my child than see them autistic).

I have an urge to just go, buy a plane ticket and give a sound bashing to certain individuals, except of course that wouldn't help them develop a conscience.

This is what I'm not seeing. I would think that for the most part, an NT's curebie ideas would come from misconceptions that all autistics are in pain and need major help, which of course is not the case. When I think of prejudice and discrimination, I think of hatred. And I see more pity and misunderstanding coming from NT's, not hatred for autism. Pain, maybe. From having to deal with autism and never being able to understand what it's like. But not... hatred.

I'm sure there's some people out there who don't want a cure for their neurological condition that's called multiple sclerosis (MS can be replaced with any other condition of the brain), and they then find it offensive that someone sees something wrong in them that's worth fixing.

I cannot find offense in someone trying to help me function better in a society that's based on majority rule.

I only find offense when said "cure" is forced onto me, just as I find offense when people in a certain group of individuals think they speak for everyone with the disorder in question, when in fact, they're only speaking for themselves, and those who agree with them.

Prejudice and discrimination do not equal hatred.

Prejudice and discrimination more often arise from more subtle causes. Misunderstanding and misconceptions and denial and ignorance are often behind discrimination and prejudice.

It's my contention, in this case, that NT people are simply not aware of the subtle prejudice and discrimination that pervades their thinking. Compare the once societally acceptable prejudice and discrimination against people with skin colors other than white, women, homosexual people etc.

People were blind to their prejudice and discrimination in these areas until they were enlightened as to their divisive and destructive ways of thinking.

I believe that the autistic community has a long way to go in educating the 'ASD experts' and the public at large before we can say that there is any genuine understanding of the issues and subtle discrimination and prejudice we face. Until then, we'll still continue to be subject to well-meaning pity and de facto discrimination, despite all the pity.

Agreed.

But organizations like "autism speaks" are NOT trying to help you function! ALSO, you don't seem to have any desire to do more than you are doing.

As for cures, I have said several times that I am ALL FOR ONE that will do things like give you the desire/ability to go out on your own, let the little girl in that "autism speaks" video speak for herself and desire to learn more, along with the ability to do so. I would ALSO love it if my social problems and meltdowns could be cured!

What I am AGAINST is people that CLAIM to help, but know they are part of the problem, and people that disregard any good. HECK, I once had a guy try to DROWN me to claim he SAVED me from drowning! I still remember his hand trying to hold me under the water, and how I had to try to swim around. HE was perhaps 30, and I was about 7! He should have been thrown in jail.

They get RICH by promising what they won't, and can't, deliver, and create problems from stealing from those that can, and spreading propaganda that causes more problems.

They ALSO talk about early genetic detection. That smacks of desiring a way to do selective abortions.

If anyone believes differently than I do, in that area, I think they should go flying off a cliff(without any device capable of flight). THEY are the ones you should be against.

You know, I have this condition, it's called autistic disorder (it's a somewhat severe PDD); it doesn't affect my personality, i.e., what I want to do (see: desire); it affects my ability to do what I want to do (see: cause and effect).

Now, if someone wants to help me by supplying a "cure", in whatever form, which allows me to do what I want to do (the desire is there), how can I take offense to that?

And personally, I don't give a damn if children with autism are born in the future or not; mainly because I have this symptom, it's a symptom of my aforementioned autistic disorder, that bestows a total lack of empathy on me.

WOW, you sound offended and seemed to indicate you can't be. But I DID say:



Yeah, *I* don't get out a lot as far as most are concerned. I figured yesterday that this year I spent about 25 HOURS with friends. That is PITIFUL by NT standards, but it was a ***VERY*** GOOD year by mine! MOST of that 25 hours was spent in the past week.

HECK, my mother got me some bridge lessons. It DOES look like an interesting game. MAYBE it will help a little. Still, I am almost twice your age IIRC.

BTW I DIDN'T mean to offend you.

I don't think he sounded offended at all.

Maybe I am just too sensitive to that. I used to really have a problem with that and, like most things, I may have gone too far the other way. That is another autistic symptom also. I guess that is one reason why we generally like blunt and the truth.

Anyway, sorry again if I misspoke.

I will say that "damn" usually implies upset though. I realize that it TOO has become almost colloquial though.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, the "damn" you suspected as
an angry damn was part of the phrase "not to give a damn"--a
familiar way of saying "not to care", "not to favor either of two
possible outcomes", "to be uninterested in the situation".

Happy New Year!

I find that most aspies are more concerned with explaining their points of view or correcting misconceptions rather than spewing out emotionally charged justifications of their actions. Not that it doesn't happen, of course. I just think Daniel seemed to be leaning toward the former.

By the way, I think "personality" is a really bad word for what autism is about. Autistic people have all different sorts of personalities. What we have in common are some fundamental ways of perceiving and responding to the world, on a deep rather than superficial level. Far deeper than personality at any rate. So I don't like the idea that cure is about erasing personality, because it's not our personalities that are different from other people, it's something a lot deeper than that.

From my perspective, the issue is all about self-determination. Autism Speaks uses the disease model, and some of its policies appear to favor taking that self-determination away from people.

As a kid, I would have kissed the person's hand who could provide me with some hypothetical cure. Now, in my early 50s, I would not take one if it were offered to me.