If you could choose not to be Aspie would you?

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I suppose it does come down to moral frameworks as to how people would view anti-cures in a post-cure world. As you point out in your post, the common human moral preference to inaction (ooh, more trolley problem applications!) would be in our favor. I now realize my analogy was set in framework with action was at least as morally preferable as inaction.


(I seem to be derailing this thread with moral philosophy...)

I would say no to becoming neurotypical, but not a very strong no. I think that the having obsessions part of Asperger's Syndrome can actually be beneficial. Like, possibly Einstein and definitely the guy who invented Pokémon have Asperger's Syndrome, and the world is better off (or in the case of Pokémon, more fun ,) because of it. However, not understanding social skills does present difficulties, and in my case, depression, because I desperately want to have more friends and for people to like me. I hate feeling insensitive, or like a bad person because I simply don't understand social norms. And let's not forget about those pesky sound and touch sensitivities!

Anyways, it's a complicated question. Maybe I would have been happier if I was born NT, but this is who I am, and while I am trying to improve my social skills, I don't want to completely become a different person.

This question comes up so many times here, but I don't get tired of this topic though.

Since I gone on anti-depressant meds I haven't felt so bad about my condition, but if I got given the choice to be NT I would definitely be NT. Also most people of my age who are in relationships are the last people I thought would be in a relationship, at least yet, so that provides hope for me because if they can have that sort of happiness then so can I. I'm not being judgemental and I hope I don't sound stereotypical, but a lot of people with disabilities who also lack confidence and spend most of their lives in their bedroom seem to find it a little harder to meet the right partner. It's the issue that sulks many people with ASDs and/or other conditions.

But anyway, I went off-topic there. And yes, these sorts of threads do get boring when relationships start getting brought into it and then an argument brews up about who has it harder to find and maintain a relationship and who doesn't. So I'll just get to the point. I think Asperger's is harder to live when there are so many happy and lucky people around you. Well, actually, I believe life is harder to live with when there are so many happy and lucky people around you. It seems everybody around me (all my friends and cousins) are all doing this and that with friends, and making the most of their lives while they're still young, and I'm missing out on all the fun simply because I haven't got many friends at all. OK I have a few acquaintances around but nobody's close enough to want to do things like go away on holiday with me and stuff other people are doing with their friends. Even people who I never thought would be popular are now popular. I knew someone who was always sitting in his room on the computer, didn't like his job he had, and kept on not talking to his mum and his sister. Then suddenly he somehow found himself a group of friends and according to photos on Facebook he is always out with them, going on holidays with them, going out for drinks, and having big social get-togethers with his friends for his birthday. All this happened quite quickly. Maybe it might happen to me too some time.

I have been diagnosed as AS only a couple of months ago, so I am still getting a handle on all of this, and learning a lot. Something very similar to this thread came up this past Thursday in a therapy session. I told my therapist (one of 2 I see) that I had been depressed over all I had missed out on in life and how it life would have been so much better had I not been born with AS. She replied "You don't know that". I know that is true, but there are ways I could guess.

It would have been great to have not been bullied, picked on, teased, and rejected by females while growing up. It would be great to not be depressed, have extreme self loathing, the eating disorder it lead to, the low self esteem, and the lack of self confidence that I ended up with. I would love to not obsess and beat myself up constantly over the past. I would love to not feal like a loser most of the time because I did so poorly at dating and relationships until I was 29. True, I might have had some of this anyways, but I think AS definitely helped.

However, I guess I can't know how it would be to think as an NT does. I don't know what it would be like to not like learning useless trivia just for the sake of learning it-I do real well at Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy. I don't know what it would be like to not get so engrossed in an activity from time to time that I completely lose track of time-heck, once it a while this ever occurs with things related to work. I don't know what it would be like to never obsess about the past (I do that a lot) and try to figure out why things happened like they did (A useless activity since I can't chance the past, but I do it much of the time anyways).

I consider myself lucky compared to many who has AS as I was able to get a Ph.D, a tenured teaching position at a college, and get married. I see that man never get those opportunities. So I really don't know the answer to this yet, but writing this has helped me.

Thinking about it now, I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for my condition. As much as being an aspie sucks in a lot of ways, it does have its silver lining in that it allows me to "think outside the box", and pursue things in a manner no normal person would. As well, my sensory sensitivities help give me a greater appreciation of things like music.

Upon further reflection I do believe I got some good qualities out of this. For example, I haven't ended up being superficial, into conspicuous consumerism, and run myself into debt trying to keep up with the Jones-partially because I learned I will never completely fit in regardless of what I buy or wear. I am lucky that I didn't end up with a wife who was super concerned about image either, so she would need to go on $500 shopping sprees at the mall every weekend, and I would be stuck at some job I hate just to be able to pay for it all.

My lack of romantic relationships did give me the chance to do a lot in furthering my education. I didn't have to drop out of college or skip graduate school because I got someone pregnant and had to go get a job and start a family.

I did find some hobbies that I really like, that I probably would have never gotten into if I was a NT because they weren't cool enough.

I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wish I could like the person I am today more, and accept that my past, while it wasn't that normal, was mine, and it can't be changed and will have to do.

It's hard to say really. AS has made me who I am, and I love who I am. On the other hand, I can't honestly say I wouldn't enjoy having a normal life either.

I would gladly choose a neurotypical brain in order to live somewhat of a normal life. I want to have the intuitive sense of knowing how to navigate not only the world of people, but how to make good choices, to have street smarts, to understand emotions. Maybe my life wouldn't have been that much better, but as I am currently in a s**t position due to my lack of neurotypical actions and thoughts, I can only assume having some sort of autistic disorder is to blame.

Wow, most people would still choose to be Aspie. That's really interesting, considering how much we have all suffered as aspies. Even I chose to still be an aspie even though I've given this a lot of thought over the past year because of all the pain and difficult situations I've been through all my life because of being autistic. I think when I look at the NT world and NT's I just can't relate, to the point where I don't want to be like them even if being an aspie is really hard.

I'm stubborn and would not want to change who I am yet I am getting tired of living like this so that brings me at a crossroad of sorts. I would want to know what the non-aspie version of myself actually is first. I get that some people view Asperger's and or being disabled as part of their identity and who they are however If I could not walk because of paralysis for example and thus were disabled I would take a cure for that, I'd be stupid not too. Asperger's is in a gray area because of the many desired effects that come along with it so the decision really comes down to a couple of questions, how much more functional would I be and what would I become? If the non-aspie version was anything close to what I am now only with average functionality it may me a good thing to do however if the cured version was a major pop culture sheep or something then no. Then again its my Aspie brain doing the thinking right now so maybe if I were cured I would look at this and think I was crazy to even consider not taking a cure.

See my signature.

That's exactly the same as asking "If you could be somebody other than yourself, would you?"

What an insane question and anyone who said "Yes, I'd be someone else!" needs their head read!! !

This topic seems to come up every couple of months, doesn't it?

Here's one thread I found:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt255377.html

doubtless there are others.

If it made it better for other people then I might. But it would likely be a great loss to myself. When you lose part of yourself you could lose a lot more than you think. The way you see the world. I see beauty where others don't. That's not to say there are no downsides to being different... but a life of being different has made me appreciate it.

Its a fundamental part of who I am and how I define myself, at least internally. Even though it means I'm disabled and makes my life a struggle, I wouldn't change it, even discarding doubts of a magic "cure".

Unfortunately, the cons of my particular AS outweigh the pros for me, and has led to a largely difficult and lonely life.

So yes, I would love to have the scales tipped.