no cure? Why not?

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Judging by all the comments concerning a cure that I've read on this board, I think it's fair to say that most people with Autism/AS (especially AS) don't want a cure. There are better ways for us to be able to fit in with an NT society than to be cured and thus forced to conform to normalcy. Even if any cure that may be developed isn't forced on adults with Autism/AS, I'm concerned that young children who get diagnosed may have it administered regardless of their consent.

No matter how Autism is caused, I am who I am and refuse to have myself changed to fit in with the crowd. Sometimes, I suspect it’s people like zendall that are high and need to be cured .

There is another issue. The issue of parents refusing a cure (or major treatment) for their autistic children. Criminal deprived indifference to human life? Punishable by imprisonment and loss of custody of children?

Although I'm not against a cure, I would also like to add that if there were a cure it should obviously be the individual's choice whether or not they decide to be cured themselves.

nominalist wrote:
If there were a cure, which there is not, I would simply tell people that I honor both neurodiversity and personal freedom. It is none of my business what other people do. I can only say that I would not want to be cured myself.


There is another issue. The issue of parents refusing a cure (or major treatment) for their autistic children. Criminal deprived indifference to human life? Punishable by imprisonment and loss of custody of children?

Does "individual choice" cover children from say 2-8 years old, and possibly from 8-18 years old as well. Does "individual choice" cover the more severely affected (low functioning autism) from 2 years old onward to any age possibly, such that adults are needed to care for them and make decisions for them (where to live, what to do, medical treatment, education, therapy, exercise, diet, etc)?

oooh, don't you oppress me.



Sorry, the topic just seemed to be getting a bit serious and in need of a good bit of humor.

Then again, perhaps that's just an aspie trait for going off topic which makes it worthwhile being an aspie.

The problem, IMO, is (what I call) the ideology of neurelitism. For instance, who gets to define "normal," and why do their definitions matter more than those of anyone else?

Okay, this paragraph was not in the first version of your posting. IMO, those kinds of questions need to be answered collaboratively, and over a long period of time, not imposed upon all of us by the medical establishment.

You know... I take it all back. Somebody come up with the damned cure, give it to the ones who want it and MAKE THEM NORMALS... so I can just ignore them. It won't matter... they'll be NT's and not used to reading, or thinking or you know... that funny thing those geeks do.... ummmm... oh yeah, remembering... hey the game's on!! !!

i wouldnt want a cure, cause theres really no scientific cause of autism, and hate to say it but i somewhat agree and don't agree with KimJ, theres alot of brainwashing going around as KimJ defined on the causes, stress of pregnancy, alcohol,tv, cellphones, etc. Theres so many different theory's that theres really no 100% answer that's 100% true.. However KimJ you say that those causes is accusing the mother mostly. , actually it may not be the mother but someone in the family tree? and or it's simply from traumatic events/stress/anxiety of the child. Who knows but i know when i was a kid my symptoms werent as bad as they are now. and i have had like 10 traumatic events happen within the last 27 years that caused most of the symptoms. we all know that ADHD,ADD,Anxiety disorder,PTSD,Depression etc is part of the co-morpid-conditions. I wouldn't want a cure but i treatment or a way to reduce the co-morpid conditions (panic attacks, depression, etc) that is bothering me the most and I'm sure others feel the same way.

I think it all depends on what causes autism. If the cause is genetic, I don't think anyone would want a brain transplant, gene therapy, lobotomy, or things like that. If the cause is a virus, then I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to treat that.

Autism is not caused by a virus. Autism is a variation in mental processing.

I give up. Its hopeless.

Just so everyone's aware, the original people who were against being cured, none of them were classified under AS.

Who? People, which is all there is to decide. More specifically, generally the collective of people who are interested in the matter for their work: scientists, doctors, professors, public representatives, organizations, etc. This is how a general conception of the normal is arrived at, and as is the case of other conceptions (political, moral, psychological), they are not fixed, but rather, are frequently changed, adjusted, revised, clarified, extended, etc.

Why do the conceptions of certain people matter more than those of others, you ask? Conceptions differ by their reasonableness, their consideration of developments in science, medicine, philosophy, as well as developments in how people conceive of themselves and what a good life is. The alternative: extreme relativism: who is to judge anything? A recent trend: many people's minds are so open that their minds are empty: judgment less, opinion less, etc.

Extreme relativism claims that in the content of philosophy, none of the competing theories can be distinguished from one another as being more reasonable. And it also claims that any theory or conception that relies on it's degree of reasonableness, or degree of acceptance, is no better than any other theory or conception. A very unfortunate position: this position neglects to consider that the quality of ideas is all there is, in many cases; and, that efforts to construct ideas of higher completeness, clarity, creativity, and utilizing of the history of ideas, as well as facts, is the most effort that can be made; and, that some people are considerably better at this effort than others.

Who's to decide? And of what is decided, who's to say it is better than anything else? Very unfortunate questions. It's very clear that most people are not who's to decided, and that most people are not who's to say what is best of the decisions made. Very clear.

Someone said that if we can just learn to be more like NTs, we'd be accepted.

Not necessarily.

If we are seen to "cope", in other words to be more like NTs, what tends to happen is that the NTs think we're making the rest of it up, then make no allowances for us, or they might offer no help when we need it "because we can cope", or they might label us troublemakers instead.
I've had it happen to me.

Old Chinese proverb: "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it."

For me, then, no - I don't want a 'cure', though I'd expect each person to 'make up their own mind' on this one. I would like NT society to realise we're here and find some better way to communicate and interact with us. If they can manage to help people who are blind, deaf or in wheelchairs from time to time, I'm pretty sure they can learn to interact with us from time to time too.

The thing is, I have pathetically low endorphins. I have a low pain threshold, I dont exercise much, and I crave company..

Yet I still dont want to be cured. It cant be because of endorphins though..

For me I dont want to be cured more because I dont understand NTs and it is too late, my brain is already formed and it is already different.. if I had a different, NT brain it wouldnt be mine and I would feel disoriented.

I would however like to have better coping skills and be a lot happier. But I want to keep my old mind. I have no problem with it working better though.