Do I wish for a cure?

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I wish I could fluently use multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction.

I wish I could develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level.

I wish I could do social and emotional reciprocity. Doing that leads others to reciprocate right back, and virtuous cycles kick ass.

I wish I could break out of my encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest whenever it made sense.

I wish everyday things didn't distract and distress me sensorially.

If I had my wishes... I wouldn't be autistic. Therefore, I wish I was cured. QED.

If there was a reasonably safe (at least as safe as the medications I've been taking) cure that didn't take away any of my present abilities.... I wouldn't even stop to think about it.

Yes me too.

Aspie traits have caused me nothing but stress, anxiety, depression, dispair, and anger.

Nevertheless, there are still some aspies out there who claim to be happy with their AS, and some who claim that NTs are somehow inferior (frequently referring to the herd mentality of NTs and how Aspies tend to think more independently).

We should remind ourselves that being NT does not mean being stupid either. There are idiots out there, both NT and Aspie. I've met several NTs who are highly rational and intellectual, and they also enjoy the benefits that many of us can only crave for. I'm sure that is the sort of person that I would be if I were to take some hypothetical / magical 'aspie-cure'.

Autism doesn't have strengths. People have strengths. Autism is a list of things you can't do well, or at all. Being unable to do something is not a strength or an advantage. Being able to do something (all else being equal) is better than being unable to do something.

Yep. I'm in software... there's a bunch of NTs around here, some of them with programming abilities that I can only dream of... for one thing, the don't constantly wander down rabbit holes and they have a really good grasp of what users want and why.

The only thing I can think of against a cure is that if we fundamentally change the way our brain works, will our mind still be our mind, or will it be a somehow different consciousness, with new favourite things and different handwriting, which would sort of be like turning into a new person? I'm all for getting rid of sensory issues and blending in, but not if it's not really still me doing it...

Hell yes I wish there was a cure. Well there is a cure if you do drugs but I don't recommend that; drinking alcohol and doing pot made me feel normal. I like my high IQ. I definitely feel like I can achieve anything if I put my mind to it. But it sucks having Asperger's. It really does. I wish I was neurotypical and smart. Loneliness, lack of empathy, and obsessions are big problems in my life.

I would not be cured for anything.

I think a lot of issues people have come from expectations that other people have for them. Life is a lot less stressful if you only worry about what you want to do rather than what other people expect.

If autism is a pervasive mental condition, then a cure is nonsense. The closest thing to it would be to remove one person and put another one in his/her place. Wishing for a cure is the same as wishing to be someone else.

Well, yes, if the "cure" involved taking my brain out and putting another one in... turning that down would be a no-brainer.

But.... I already take antidepressants, and I was taking ADHD meds before my cardiologist told me to stop. Those change the way my brain works. I'm pretty sure I'm still me. Throughout my life my connections inside my brain were changed, some strengthened and others weakened. Did some other dude thereby commit suicide and give birth to me in his place? How could I possibly know that that had happened?

What if they replaced half of it? A quarter of it? One percent of it? And how would you ever know if you ceased to exist and someone else took your place... and how would they ever know it had happened?

(Now there's a question to keep yourself up at night with... if that's what did happen, how would you know?)

Who doesn't want a nice normal house with the nice normal spouse with the nice normal dog with the nice normal kids in the nice normal suburbs? Arrghh. I hate being DIFFERENT sometimes! I used to think it's because I'm artistic is why I'm cursed, now I know it's the spectrum business. Maybe it's a combination of the two.

I don't wish to be cured. I don't see myself as defective or suffering. There should be a cure available for the people who want it, but it shouldn't be forced upon everybody. My AS adds spice to my personality and it gives me a unique view of the world. I feel that normal is overrated. I'd rather be cute and quirky, than normal and sheep like.

I agree with CockneyRebel---and let those who want a cure have it if it ever existed. In addition to the challenges of autism (and it should be added that everyone has challenges), I enjoy the positives autism has given to me. I enjoy the repetitive and restrictive interests is has given to me---and the talents I have gained from it. So, no cure for me.

Agreed.

No than I'd be just be like them .

Hi. I recognized too much not to reply. I find the alcohol and pot only help me with sensory stuff but actually destroy my ability to plan more then the next 10 hours of my life. I stopped obsessing over things pretty girls don't find impressive, cut down on the intoxicants and things improved. Planning is still a problem, but I don't have to just feel like I can achieve anything any more when I do it, I can work on getting there.

Yes, the pretty girls part was slightly sarcastic, you can replace that with any (sub)culture you find impressive or pleasant I guess, as long as it's close enough to mainstream to stop feeling alone everywhere.

That sir, is the 'Hot Skinny'.

Objectively, I cant see it being any other way. You ( one) has a cognitive profile that is relatively weak.

With having autism, would one like to communicate better? Would you like to do anything better? The strangest human phenomenon: "My answer is no."

Yes, but those inabilities are statistically correlated with strengths as well.

People don't just have random 'grab bag' lists of strengths and weaknesses. There are many traits which cause both strengths and weaknesses (eg visual thinking = spatial strength + verbal weakness). Autistic people often have specific strengths that are intricately linked to their weaknesses.

In addition, the restricted/repetitive behavior domain is not a list of things you can't do well. It's a list of behavioral tendencies which are usually judged negatively. However, many of those traits can actually be neutral or positive. For example, pretty much everyone with a PhD has an intense interest - if they didn't naturally have one, they have to work at cultivating one.

Me too, my autism has caused me nothing but utter despair.

Being a foot taller than my class mates (40 years ago) and with a mop of flaming red hair did I really need the curse of AS to make things worse?