Need quotes from fellow members

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Right now I'm in the process of writing a paper about Autism. Here's the one-sentence summary:

Autism is a gift from God, not a burden to society.

I need a favor to ask you guys. THe first section of my paper is about how curing autism and the media's portrayal of ASD is wrong. Now I need to get some quotes from you guys. It can be about why and how curing autism is wrong. Better yet, you can quote why some people think a cure is necessary and how they believe everything the media says to them about autism is right.

If you can't give a quote, please link (if you can) some websites where autism is being talked about.

One cures a disease; one treats a condition. Yet here the demand is to cure those affected by this spectrum of afflictions; instead of enabling them to succeed with their gifts, accepting their limits and adapting their reactions, the outcry is to excise an entire subset of society. All voices need to be heard, not just those who speak the loudest.


M.

I understand that we aren't the easiest people to live with, but the idea of a "cure" is an excercise in futility and stupidity.

I actually do a ministry of music with stories of hope and inspiration. When I mention my autism I describe it as a gift from God. I tell the church congregations that autism has given me many interests including music. My intense interest in dulcimers from autism has allowed me to play these instruments with no lessons and in little time. When I become obsessed with a musical instrument---I can play it quickly.

I describe autism as a gift in this way. "Autism is a gift that needs unwrapped. Once you unwrap it you must appreciate it and accept it into your life, and use it---then the gift will work for you."

Why would anyone want to cure what can give those of us with autism so much pleasure? I know there are many with autism who are not happy. But I have felt that if those people looked hard enough they could find the gifts it has to offer. I believe one must learn to accept autism in his or her life. I perceive autism as a difference rather than a disorder. When I was diagnosed with Asperger's, I was happy. I now knew the name of this "difference" that had made my life so eccentric and enjoyable. I do not keep my autism a secret. I openly tell people I have it when certain situations arrise.

Autism is a different way of thinking. For example---I like to write (I am currently working on a sci-fi/horror novel). Whereas the central focus of most authors' works are people, I tend to focus on things like houses, etc.

When other people get bored, I can pick up a house plan book and study a favorite plan for awhile. I can absorb myself into daydreams about my novel. There are many things I can do that I attribute to autism.

I hope I have helped you on this project.

Autism is not an illness like chicken-pox or whooping cough, it is an alternate brain structure. Attempting to "cure" Autism is the same as attempting to "cure" someone of being themselves. You may as well murder that person; you'd get the same result.

Without Aspergers Syndrome, we'd still be living in the Stone Age.

A Pixie World

Pixies Play in a world full of fools
Humanoids stuck to their customs and rules
A pixie is caring and giving and true
And knows instinctively what’s red and what’s blue
Yet the humanoids need to be selfish and mean
And tinge everything with a sickly green
So it’s hard for a pixie to be in this place
Where humanoids show only half of their face

Envy, jealousy, greed and hate
Are the servings that come on a humanoid plate
They swallow them down and tell you it’s true
This world doesn’t cater for you to be you
Pixies can’t play or be happy or kind
And should be programmed to a humanoid mind
Yet the pixies can see through the humanoid s**t
And find the truths through the dirt and the grit

It’s pixies that know the true worth of giving
And that loving and sharing are all part of living
And that kindness is something you do for a friend
Not the humanoid “means to an end”
And a pixie will tell you that it’s OK
for you to be you in every way
So although it’s hard here where humanoids rule
I’d much rather be
Pixie than fool

Fe Pixie
9-97

You can replace "pixie" with "aspie" now that i know i am one

why a gift from "God"?

After you cured autism, will you cure blue eyes next?

If you "cure" Autism, you will destroy the very essence of the person with the condition. Autism is not a disease, but a condition where you have a different brain, mind, and sensory perceptual system, etc. This is not necessarily a bad thing. You get to look at the world from a different set of eyes (or ears, nose, fingertips etc.). This creates variety & diversity in society. To cure Autism is like curing an eye color, sexuality, or the ability to feel an emotion (happiness, sadness, etc.).

It is one of those uncontrollable factors that needs to be accepted because it is just proof that people are not meant to be clones of one another and different means of perception ("sets of eyes"-NT phraseology) are necessary to make the world a more beautiful and accepting place.

A sensory issue, such as light sensitivity, shows that light does not always equate to good, and darkness to evil. And sensitivity to noises shows how people can not filter out what is important anymore. What if Autism is a message to the world showing that people have lost track of what is important in life? Do you see how we demonstrate societies constant circling & pattern of repeating itself, monotonous no? They (society/NT's) do not readily accept those who are different (went from racial/ethnic (blacks, Jews, etc.), to religious persecution (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.) to sexuality (homo & bisexuals) to disabilities in general to Autism).

It is proof of how( for us NT's) (for American slaves it was white men) (for women it was/is men in general), etc. (people in general) need to learn to accept others as they are. They should leave others to their lives in peace b/c that is what they expect themselves. The past keeps repeating itself (slaves in Egypt/America, discrimination in general/too many to list) and we are showing what the world refuses to learn. We need to change our ways and accept those who are "differently abled" as they are rather than shun them. Something along the lines of see similarities and embrace differences so the world is not so boring. If all people were clones it would be so boring it would be unreal!

If we were cured, which is impossible in a real sense (I believe any cure would kill us or alter us into zombies or something), we would lose a valuable thing, a new perceptual pattern of the world, those who may know how to change things. Recluses make the best researchers, philosophers, etc. When have those who knew good things ever truly (without being feared or questioned) been accepted (Da Vinci, Einstein, Socrates, etc.)? Never, I think we may be the next group on the list. (Some of us have so many oddball epiphanies that its not even funny) !

We juice it up a bit w/ our eccentricities and antics ! But alas (I know cliche) life goes on repeating itself in the same silly pattern. Notice how the past repeating itself mirrors many Autie/Aspie patterns of routine in a strange manner? Analogies of each other possibly, another way to show a mirror, though it may be distorted. Go eccentricities, antics, and a willingness to truly live life as you are. Most NT's refuse to show their true selves (wear a mask b/c of the embarrassment factor) (embarrassment factor, which at least I, personally lack-mostly) (I can only recall being embarrassed five times/when panicking, etc. cause I needed help) Let's keep it up shall we.

*Sorry its such a long post , couldn't stop myself, writing frenzy. I wrote this myself its not from a site & things in quotes are fairly well known phrases I believe (at least in the Autism/my community at home). Everything else just popped into my head now (wow, no wonder I feel tired) If I sound like an idiot, please ignore me... (apologies for bad grammar & confusing post)

p.s. You are free to use my ideas, but do not publish them in a book or something please (make money off it). Quote others who give you ideas (their nicknames) (& this site) so you do not get in trouble at school for plagarism issues (teachers can be really picky about that b/c its illegal/wrong). Good luck to you , especially if you read this whole dang post! I'm a weird, nutty, "philosopher", obsessive w/ deep thought type...

Autism is worse than Down syndrome (this is Autistic Disorder); life expectancy is better in the former, but chronic symptom severity is greater in Autism.

That's a quote no one will want to swallow, but hey, reality doesn't always taste nice, and in this sad reality, the latter is seen as worst for the simple fact that those with such look abnormal. Nice species this one.

Of course it's a gift from god, just like any human behaviour; as we're all made in her image. She murders little boys, which is just as much of a gift for those who like murdering little boys.

1.)All people can learn acceptance and tolerance if we can learn how to teach them

2.) (answer to a question in an education class. One girl, genuinely curious, asked "do you have feelings?")

Yes, Yes I do have feelings. Just not yours.

3.)A medical approach only goes so far.Yes, behavioral approaches can help.And yes, acknowledging biological origins of pain and discomfort can make a world of difference in people's lives--But making value judgments of another person's existence based upon the degree of contrast to one's own is an insidious threat to human dignity.

electronic device, the autistic brain is wired very differently to the "normal" brain/mind it can do some things which the "normal" brain/mind can not ever do and it can not do some things which the "normal" mind can do. The reason I write "normal" with the "s is that it is very hard to define normal, so few people have average bodies and minds.

I would also like to point out that no cure or treatment exists which will convert a autistic brain/mind into a normal one. The idea of such a cure is something from my worst nightmares, my worry is that if we consider the track record of some sections of the medical profession that attempts to cure autism are a step onto the slippery slope which leads into the abyss. In the past attempts have been made to "cure" homosexual men, and to do some other equally bad things.

I strongly suggest that we should resist the idea of a cure for autism/AS, rather than in 20 years time placing it in the trash bin of unethical and ineffective medical treatments along with the cure for being gay we should stick it in the trash bin of unethical ideas which have never been put into action along with all the other junk which that bin already contains.

Lastly "I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man"

_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Actually, when you look at how the "normal" people mind the world, one can wonder if we'd like to be cured if it meant ending up like them o.O .

Sometimes being "locked up" in your own world is the safest place to be, why strive to take this away from us?
If people didn't spend so much time trying to cure us of something that makes us who we are, perhaps they could use said time to cure society of the ignorance surrounding autism.