Autism "cure"= good thing

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The problem is defined according to needs of all humans, not of some completely disparate majority. Whatever is in the mind of an autistic that is so different, does not contradict their need to have basic mental abilities or the benefit they can or do get from higher level cognitive abilities. No, it is not another way of function. Functioning is functioning. The successful autistics are out there running the same errands as neurotypicals, doing jobs that many non-autistics also work in, and learning things in school that the rest of the population learns. A reality check is needed against this segregationist agenda. Autistics are part of the same whole human population.

We are not immune against any of those things you mentioned. The evidence is for the opposite. That propaganda has been drummed up to portray the idea of some mysterious, saintly, innocent autistic, who tends to be perceived as some kind of a permanent child, even if inadvertently. Communication impairments are real. Denying that disability occurs within autism should not be tolerated.

So, if someone is supposedly worried their needs wouldn't be listened to after a cure is available, they should get to preemptively forbid others from having it available to them, to protect themselves against such hypothetical victimization? It's amazing who can be portrayed as a "victim" these days. Cure is being considerate. Anti-cure agendas are inconsiderate, greedy, and include hegemony. Parents are responsible for making decisions for their children. Period. If medical treatment, which includes cure, is to be up to the child's sole decision, what else should children have the final say on? Think of the power differential that tends to continue into adulthood between parent and child when the child has a mental disability, including things like power of attorney, guardianship, etc.
It's not so much that some of you worry that a cure would be forced on you in particular, but that you don't want others who lack functioning to get it, as some aspies want to maintain their functionally advantaged position over others, which would be eliminated by others receiving cure. Cure isn't a neurotype change. It is a disability remover.

I am not the biggest fan of having a cure so that sums it up really.

I don't think there ever will be a cure.
I think that more time should be spent on differing methods of treatments.
Maybe they can make Autism into the new cancer and string everyone along.
I benefit from nicotine but I will not smoke. Why not research this???
My Neurologist says nobody wants to touch it.
What happens when I cant get the patch anymore, Ciggs are almost a thing of the past.
I have been hypnotized to forget traumatic events that cause me massive anxiety. That helped immensely.
But the medication needed to perform the hypnosis is not legal in the US.
I think I would benefit from a reboot from time to time, get rid of the bad memories I cant handle.
This applies to so many no matter what degree you have, A young girl who is severely effected on my wife's school bus can not be driven past her hospital or see an ambulance without breaking down. Hypnotism may help her have a better life and ease her anxiety.


What really needs to happen is, everything given to the world through autism needs to be taken away for a year.
It is amazing how the world takes the positives and forgets the rest.

Visit another country to use it?
What is the medication?

You're not a bad person for having these thoughts. I tend to lean towards focusing on wanting to change the society we grow up in so that autistic people can be better understood and that they can eventually live independent lives in jobs that play to their strengths. But I recognise that it can be very frustrating having autism. My form is mild and I still find it exhausting and horrible to try understanding people sometimes.

In general, I think in some ways it has become harder to be an autistic person in modern western cultures. In the last 50 or so years, we have developed this sort of very social extrovert culture, where everyone is expected to be friendly, chatty, and extroverted, and if someone isn't, it's seen as something "wrong". If you look at job vacancies, they all want an "outgoing team player". They all want someone who wants "something different every day", and who "loves chatting with new people". I've never seen a job ad asking for a quiet/thoughtful/inwards-focused person, although this type of personality is no less valuable. If someone is naturally more reserved, people become suspicious of them. People who simply tend to be quieter are continually told to "get out of your shell".

So I think to some extent it's society that makes being autistic harder. In some Asian cultures, quietness is seen as important in an environment and people tend to live more private lives. Whereas in a lot of Western cultures, we have this idea that everything should be partyish. As a culture, we've really lost a lot of our appreciation for quiet personal contemplation, and that's a real shame. I think if this boy you describe was growing up in a culture that wasn't so focused on social skills, a culture where job opportunities were tailored towards introverted people, and where people were able to support him to find and capitalise on his strengths, he could grow up to live an independent adult life as he is. I think a lot of severely autistic people could find fulfilment working with animals, working in research, editing papers or working online.

You seem to not know what severe autism really means. The introvert/extrovert dichotomy doesn't really exist. It does not characterize autism. Deficits in basic communication exist for the the severely autistic. Choosing to be reclusive and liking being reclusive, isn't the same thing as being unable to communicate with others.

Basic communication includes the kind of basic interactions you would have day to day with others. Jobs usually involve many workers who have to communicate with each other to organize the work being done. Communication is needed to exchange necessary information. Wanting to tailor job opportunities for hypothetical "introverts" doesn't prove that such a hypothetical job category can exist and be financially viable. Jobs have to end up resulting in the production of wanted/valuable entities that are therefore marketable. If they don't, such jobs won't last. Severe autistics cannot work in research/editing papers, etc. Those require lots of skills/aptitude, which low-functioning/severe autistics lack.

I think if we could tap into the mind of a low functioning autistic we could come up with a lot of good inventions.

Like high functioning autistics (HFA) ..?

I really don't understand the fear of a cure. There are pretty clear legal standards to determine whether an individual is capable of making their own decisions regarding health.

Some with autism are very clearly in need of something better than the condition with which they live. Some do fine leaving well enough alone.

But let me put this in a different perspective.

Suppose one out of 100 (or whatever the statistic is now while you read this) people suddenly start being born missing one leg.

Many of them, who are stronger than others of them, learn to get along with one leg without needing wheelchairs.

Would they, or should they, campaign to prevent those who are not as strong who are bound to wheelchairs from receiving prosthetic legs?

I don't think most of us who wouldn't want a cure for ourselves would really mind if those whose lives clearly would improve from a cure, would not want them to have it available.

I think the difference is that our legs don't define our personality or character. I could lose my leg, or regain a missing one and I'd still be the same person. On the other hand if you could somehow make me non-autistic, I'd be a completely different person. I'm not even sure it's possible to separate the Asperger's from the rest of my personality, it seems more like it's simply a description of me, rather than something that I have, external to myself. I think a lot of people, myself included, are uncomfortable with trying to change such a fundamental part of someone, even if it would make our lives easier.

It's more like if you had longer legs that would allow you to run faster but would have a hard time to enter buildings because of the roof height. In order to make everyone comply with building code and reduce costs. Those with too long legs were given the "choice" of no food or legs being chopped.

Good grief. You've both missed the real point.

It's just an illustration to make a very particular point. Try not to overanalyze it.

Long legs, short legs, whether or not legs represent personality, are all totally beside the point I was making.

The point is:

Many of us have learned to get along in life with our personalities left AS IS. But, there are others with autism who clearly CANNOT get along in life on their own.

Should WE, who have learned to deal with it, have anything to say about whether THEY should or should not have a cure available to them?

That is the point, and the illustrations demonstrates it perfectly. Back away from the minute details of it or you'll miss it.

If there's a cure, it's likely to also be forced upon those that are perfectly content with asperger. To not be within the normality zone when there's a fix will not be seen lightly on.

Rubbish. If you can speak for yourself nobody is going to force it on you. Besides, even if the worst your mind can conjure up for a totalitarian regime-like government actually did come about [again], whether you'd be forcibly cured of autism would be but a drop in the bucket of problems such a situation would cause.

Whether or not a cure exists is not the problem. What people are allowed to do with it is.

Railing against a cure won't prevent the problem you're talking about.

There seems to be a interesting myth and stereotype that seems to be common on this forum
but the truth is that:
many people with aspergers want to be cured and not all people with severe autism want to be cured.success and aspergers is not always true nor is classic autism always a bar to success.

both temple grandin and donna williams have kanners classic autistic disorder and once met a man who was mid to mid severe on the kanner syndrome spectrum who graduated from yale.he was one of leo kanners original patients in the 40's and 50's and kanner told his mother to put him in an instituation and move on with her life.but he said sarcasticly "yale wasnt quite the institution they had in mind