Are you offended by, "A Cure for Autism"?

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I don't want to be "cured" because this is my personality, I'm not ILL!
But if someone wants to be cure then that's their choice but I still don't think there will be one

I agree with this sentiment.

I've inherited my personality: it's adaptive in some environments, but maladaptive in others.

I find it very offensive and uneducated.

Don't wanna be an NT idiot Nananana.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY378m_8 ... re=related

I'm not really offended by it, because in a neurotypical world it IS a disability. I also have mixed feelings on it.

First of all, I agree that most of the advocates of curing autism are probably parents of children who are low on the spectrum and don't even have the ability to compensate for their autistic traits. My heart goes out to those parents and I can certainly imagine they'd like their child to be more in touch with THEIR world. Sure, we as high-functioning aspies have a difficult life sometimes, but the life of a parent of a heavily autistic child is equally difficult, if not more. I won't be judging those people.

That said, even if there's this typical shot in the arm that magically rewires your neural system and makes one NT, it's still not a miracle drug. Low functioning autists generally have a low IQ too, so taking "the cure" isn't gonna make such a child "normal"...it just changes an autistic kid with mental retardation into a NT kid with mental retardation. Sure...it might be an improvement but I think the miracle drug would be overestimated.

Then there's the fact Autistic Spectrum Disorders are PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENT disorders. A person who has been shaped by 20 years of Aspergers may no longer get overstimulated in a crowded pub and might no longer overlook facial cues after taking "the cure", but the years where they would have learned to correctly interpret said facial cues can't be won back and what's left is a neurotypical who feels like he had an unexpected sex change operation...in other words, he's confused as hell. I'm going out on a limb and say that fully grown aspies taking a miracle cure would still require years of intensive therapy before they'd be actually fully functional neurotypicals. Personally, I'd see taking a cure as a process that'd be creepy as hell; my brain has been processing information in a certain way for 28 years and then suddenly I'd have to get used to completely different messages being passed around in the ol' noggin. Yikes.

So I think a miracle cure may be nice for parents with low-functioning autistic children, just to make their kids connect to the world a little bit better, even if it's not gonna turn them into rocket scientists.

I also think a miracle cure may have a positive effect on very young high functioning autists, so they can go through a natural emotional maturing process as they grow into adulthood although this one would be mighty controversial and not necessarily ethical.

For aspy adults, a miracle cure would just mess them up completely and I wouldn't support having them take it.

The parents of the 2nd group I mentioned have a tough ethical decision to make, since the "cured" kid they'll end up with will probably be a completely different person than the kid would end up being like if he or she remained an aspy. They'd have to understand a miracle cure would leave a child quite confused even at that age already and they'd have to ask themselves if just how bad of an impact the autistic traits have...if they're enough to push a kid through such a culture shock.

I don't think a miracle cure at matured age would change one's personality, btw, even though those people would process information in a different way. A person's personality forms over time but after the adolescent's years, there's unlikely to be any major changes anymore...miracle cure or not.

I think I may have disagreed with every single sentence.

I would support a voluntary cure. Research a cure and give it to those who want it, anti-cure mentality shoudn't be allowed to ruin it for people with AS like me that want to be cured

Of course, making it strictly voluntary would mean it couldn't be used on those who are so impaired by their autism they can't give legal consent...despite the fact that group may be the group who needs it most.

Given aspergers is a classification, something I happen to fall under but which cannot be clearly distinquished from my personality, I would have to refuse a "cure" if one came about personally.

I do however agree with the voluntary cure idea, although this would be difficuly to administer given that to end up "normal" in adult life one would have to opt for treatment when too young to properly consider the implications.

If a cure can be found that means no childern have to grow up with autism it should obviously be used. If childern could be born without mental disorders why wouldnt people want that? as for finding a cure for people that already have autism, i doubt if it is possible in terms of medication, but instead the focus should be on better techniques to help people with autism develop social skills that other people have so that people with autism can live happier and more productive lives. If your happy as is, then i suppose you dont need to worry about a cure and such talk. As for myself, well its too late to fix me so il manage as is.

not broke, no need to get fixed

I don't intend this as any reflection on koolguy18, but the views he is expressing seem to be the usual ones taught by people without autism, and without much idea of what autism really is.

As is often the case, people seem to miss the point.

Substitute the word "autism" with various words that would be recognised as "things you can control via eugenics", and it doesn't read so well.

Juxtapose "autism" with the more emotive "mental disorders", as if they were directly related. Maybe we should breed out vertigo?

Make it sound like the easiest thing in the word to conform with the proper "social skills", as well. All that needs is the odd few electric shocks.

And finally, why should one have to "manage"? It really takes very little effort on the part of others to just accept that the odd 1% of people might not conform totally to the social norm, at all times.

I wouldn't take the cure, personally. My need for repetition is what has enabled me to complete more than 100 projects on my long and circular knitting looms. My Cockneyish speech matches my special interests that include all things London, in particular, the vintage red Routemasters. I would be quite content picking garbage up off parking lots, for the next 40 years, because this is also where the repetition comes in. I have a mind of my own, and I'm not afraid to walk around the dangerous area in which I live, with spiked green, blue or purple hair. On the flip side of my Punk Rock prudery, I'm also a very sweet person, I'm very accepting of people who are different, whether they have all types of disabilities, or not. I also like to give hugs. :O) I live independently on my own, which is the best thing that I've ever done for myself. I'm able to deal with my own incontinence issues quite well, and they don't cause me to want me to be in hiding. I have a strong network of friends, and I get along with my family. I cook my own meals, do my own cleaning and budget my own money. I went to a regular elementary school and I was mainstreamed into a regular curriculum in high school, and that was the best thing for me. I also go to Toastmasters, at my clubhouse, every Thursday evening. I've even held down a job that I hated, for three years. If somebody wishes to take a voluntary cure, they can suit themself. I'd really hate it, if the cure became mandatory.

Last edited by CockneyRebel on 02 Mar 2009, 7:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well-said. It is high time the paradigm shifts. I think part of the problem right now is the proportion of autism spectral people who actually get formally diagnosed. Is that the source of the purported range of Aspergian IQ? After reading chapters of Niels Bohr's Times I can't help but see a spectral characteristic or two in him. Fortunately for him he had a very cognitively-based upbringing. Who knows how history would have been if he, Einstein, and others had a pentacostal upbringing.

I think maybe more autistic/Aspergian pride should be expressed publicly.

How will Autism Awareness Month be?

Genetics is a little more complex than that. The same genotype can produce different phenotypes depending on conditions and differenet genotypes can produce the same phenotypes depending on conditions.

I don't get the impression that members of Autism Speaks have a robust understanding of genetics or science in general.