Talk about Curing Autism

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DentArthurDent, I'm glad there are at least a few here I can relate to.

Autism is not a disease. Autism is not an illness. I'm not diseased or sick, therefore I don't need to be cured, nor do I want to be cured. A cure for 1 in 150 people for being different from everybody else...no bloody thank you! The problem with a cure is that if it came int effect, than we would all be forced to submit to it. I'm against that, because it was in God's hands to put people with various types of autism on this planet. If God didn't want people to be autistic, than autism wouldn't exist. I can't believe the Nazi-like attitudes that the majority of the human population have towards ASDs and the people who have them. I admit that I had a rough patch that I went through, at the age of 10. Did I want my parents to kill me, because there was something that wasn't right about my head, or my choice of leisure activities - looking at the same maps, all the time. I'm happy that I wasn't killed by my parents, and I'm happy to be alive. On that note, I think that I'll proudly listen to another Kinks song on YouTube. Not in spite of the trash that my mum told me about myself, the week that I was at her place, in October, but because it's my God given right to like that group, just like it's my god given right not to be cured of my AS/HFA.

[quote="FuzzyElephants"]Personally to me alot of the "we must find a cure for autism now" type propoganda comes off as parents not being able to accept their children. I'm not saying that providing the best possible chance for success in life isn't important. That's every parent's job. However alot of it to me just seems like "oh darn Jimmy's autistic, now he'll grow up and be one of those nerds I use to beat up instead of joining the football team... " Bah humbug.

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Wrong wrong wrong

The parents who say they want a cure are NOT the parents of the Aspergers kid who gets beat up and isn't on the football team. That Asperger kid is who those parents wish they were raising. They would give anything to have a kid whose biggest problem was getting beat up in school because he has Aspergers Syndrome. The parents of kids with high functioning autism or Asp[erger's Syndrome are not the ones hoping for a cure. The ones who wish for a cure are the parents of LFA kids who are weary of having to clean feces off the wall of a 16 year old's room and fear for their kid's life when they see the ferocity with which he injures himself.

Unfortunately, if a cure would come about, it would not be individuals' decisions to take it - either outright (due to prenatal screening or parental decision) or de facto (because of discrimination, pressure and other completely socially constructed issues of being disabled). If anything, if there were an "option" not to take it, it would likely be based on money, as poor people would not be able to afford the cure. Thus poverty would be become associated with being "defective," and autism would be a marker of social class, and this would become self-perpetuating, as poverty already breeds further poverty without bringing other things into the mix. This is hardly a desirable outcome either. All of this is still assuming that the cure would work perfectly and would not have any side effects that even the normals considered unfortunate.

What I wonder about, and what I think points to the fact that the problems that come with any level of autism are to a significant part socially constructed, is the fact that all the effort is being put into an all-out cure. At least in the mainstream, you don't hear about research into ways to diminish the impact of or learn how to better handle sensory issues. You don't hear about research into technology that would better enable "low functioning" people to communicate effectively, or research about how to better enable NTs to communicate with and get through to them. It's all cure, cure, cure. Instead of getting rid of the spectrum, why not try to make it more manageable for people actually living on it? The media portrayal of the issues, if not the actual research being done, shows a heavy bias towards making the situation more livable for normal people in the future rather than people with ASDs now or any time.

While I don't want all the sweeping changes that would come with a "cure," for myself or for anyone else who wasn't taking it entirely of their own consent, I would certainly appreciate help that makes sense and works for me on my terms in the areas that are frustrating. Many of us on the spectrum give entirely more than half in trying to meet the standards of the world at large and make them comfortable with our strange existences. A little help to make the world easier for us to live in would be appreciated, at least by me.

What surprises me is that anyone would think in the first place that a cure means trying to fix or change an individual already living with autism. That is a clear impossibility so not a worry there. The issue around cure more pertains to prevention. And the whole poverty equals "defective" so you have no say anyway synopsis is just beyond bizarre, as well. Some of our greatest people now and in history started out at or below the poverty line. What exactly is intelligent or first class about anything along that line of thinking?

As for 'curing' someone with ASD it really depends on ones definition of the term, for instance I take SSRI's these have made a major improvement to my life especially in preventing the OCD that used to haunt me, has my OCD been cured, No, has it been prevented from affecting me, Yes. So when I talk about a pill that will 'cure' me, I am really talking about medication that will ameliorate the effects of AS. For instance if it could be determined why I have great difficulty in reading facial expressions and medication was found that corrected this, then I have not been literally, cured, but for all practical purposes the problem is fixed.

With regard to better advocacy, and support services, I totally agree. Funding should be made available so that kids with ASD have access to teachers aids, educating teachers and school kids about ASD would be incredibly helpful. The list of ways in which society could assist is a very long one. The same can be said for a horde of other disorders/syndromes, how many of us with ASD have learnt to sign, or gone to seminars on schizophrenia, adhd, anorexia nervosa etc etc. Where do you draw the line on 'society needs to do more to help' . We live in a global capitalistic world, so it is any surprise that the motivation to help, is centred around something that can be licensed, and therefore produce a profit.


Yes we need more advocacy, but I for one, do not see why advocacy and a search for medical intervention cannot coexist harmoniously.

Dent, I think we are meaning different things by "cure." Would I support some form of medication to help people with sensory issues? Of course. What I do not support is the goal of eliminating autism that is prevalent in several advocacy organizations. I don't support attempts to screen autism of existence with selective abortions. I do support anything that ameliorates the weaknesses that come along with autism and helps autistics to function better in society.

They 'are' at least making a connection with environmental causes and the mutation of genes and this is the sort of cause/prevention that I am thinking of, particularly associated with the birth process and practices, but it's a very complex issue. With twins where one is autistic and the other normal or both are autistic, it may be an issue where one fetus compromises the other or both and in those situations it couldn't be prevented. That sort of notion of screening for abortion would be very wrong and completely unacceptable, given there was a clear identifiable gene which they could then screen for. I haven't seen any science or evidence of this yet, unless I have overlooked something. If there is, I wish someone would post any links.

@Meadow: People have spoken of genetic screening in a hypothetical sense, but the science is still far off from being able to identify autistics by genotype. I am concerned because too many people accept in advance that screening for abortion would be acceptable and even desirable.

As far as environmental causes, fetal testosterone levels have been implicated as a potential link, and some have spoken of manipulating fetal testosterone levels as a potential pre-natal "cure" for autism. The researchers involved clarified that such would not be plausible and the reports were based on a misunderstanding of the paper they published, but the general attitude is what concerns me, especially if it persists until either screening or a "cure" really is available.

Thanks Orwell. I've heard of the fetal testosterone hypothesis. I'm skeptical but agree with regard to any sort of fetal manipulation technique during utero. I doubt there can ever be an outright cure but they may be able to prevent in some basic environmental circumstances that apparently contribute.

@ Orwell, just suppose an environmental cause was discovered such as with Cretinism (granted its an extreme example) would you oppose the treatment. Forget about the practicalities / probabilities of such an advance. I am just wondering how far your opposition to prevention goes. I mean if it was shown that Autism was a congenital lack of vitamins X and Y in combination would you oppose supplementation.