Do you want to be 'cured' of Asperger's Syndrome?

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Well go ahead and waste your life if you want, but odds are they still won't accept you anyway.

I would do it in a heart beat, assuming I actually had it. Even if a doctor did diagnose me with it, I wouldn't take it to heart, as I know the diagnosis is pretty subjective, even the symptoms are debated.

If they could, would that mean you never had Asperger's to being with, or Asperger's is something other than what we believe it to be? I never would have thought that AS could be something that could be cured, but they can try on me! This post feels contradicting.

I have too high morals to engage in those activities.

Yeah.

No, I would not want to be cured of having AS. There are certain unique abilities and skills that come with this disorder that I no longer want to lose for any reason. I will state, however, that the ideal human being in my eyes is an N/T with high intelligence and great social skills. Such people exist, and basically have it made in the current culture. Being isolated and having some social adjustment problems is the price I pay for compensations in other areas (high intelligence, great memory, music and artistic gifts). It can be a stressful burden at times, but I am older now and have gotten used to it. We must remember that everyone has problems of some sort, ours are just unique to our situation.

No, I've been able to do all sorts of neat stuff most NTs only dream about doing.

I've been married for over 10 years and live in a comfortable single family home in the suburbs.

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The closest thing to a cure I am aware of where a FDA approved medicine can noticeably help (not cure) some persons (not everyone) are two books:

A Remarkable Medicine book by Jack Dreyfus about the epilepsy medicine - Dilantin (not a cure) - Topic: Epilepsy/the many epilepsies

and

A How To (understand) book about ADHD Inattentive (1981) by C. Thomas Wild - Tirend/NoDoz - alertness aids - (each contain caffeine - 100 mg/other ingredients) (not cures) - Topic: ADHD - the four ADHDs.

Also, there is a movie titled Awakenings with Robin Williams (about levodopa/encephalitis) based on a book by Oliver Sacks.

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In terms of science fiction, there is a book titled Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (about being intellectually challenged). Movie (based on the science fiction book) is called Charly.

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Is it maybe possible to actually cure Asperger's in the distant future - in 1,000 years or so?

Maybe yes - but that is centuries and centuries and centuries away.

Columbus discovered America in 1492.

The USA landed men on the moon and returned them to earth in 1969.

So year 3010 - a thousand years away - maybe something by then it seems to me.

Hell no, I wouldn't take any cure. My Asperger's, whether I love it or loathe it, is what makes me me! If I didn't have it anymore, I probably wouldn't like certain things anymore, and my imagination wouldn't be as creative.

Usagi1992

Of course not.

Not because I'm better than the NTs, but because I'm no worse inherently, and because I'm used to being me, and because the world needs people like me. I've spent my whole life learning what works for me. Changing that would be quite disorienting, and in the particular situation I'm in, I think I'm actually doing better than an NT would.

But if a "cure" were available, I doubt it would remain a matter of personal choice for long.

spin off tread

We've all known NT teenagers who struck us as utter idiots. However, I can say from my first-hand experience that not all teens, NT or otherwise, are like that. The majority of my NT schoolmates were not as you describe. They cared about grades, about getting into a good college, about professional success. They had passionate interests in various subjects -- science, medicine, psycololgy, creative writing, painting, fractals, chaos theory, and so on. Certainly there was some drinking and use of pot on the weekends, but the non-NTs were, for the most part, just as into that as the NT kids. I probably caused ten times as much trouble as my NT brother because of my bad judgement! (Although I avoided alcohol and drugs.)

Anyway, that's off-topic. No, I do not want a cure. I don't know who I'd be if I wasn't cured, and life is confusing enough without tossing that into the mix. I don't want to lose my passion or my point of view, two things I feel are part of my AS. And as Usagi1992 said, I worry I'd lose my creativity and my ability to think outside the box (not sure I know how to think inside the box, come to that)...I worry I'd lose my imagination!

I would love to be cured. I want AS eradicated for good, I am sick of hearing all this crap about disabled pride, its all BS.

May I have your full opinion on why disable pride it b.s

I'd want to try life as an NT for a month then have the choice as to whether I wanted to stay that way or not.

I can't know for sure if being NT is better unless I tried it out.

I'd like to know whether just having an NT brain was enough to get people off my back or whether other factors as playing an equal role in keeping me 'down'.

In short? Hell no.

Being an Aspie is an integral part of what I am. I have to wish to be "cured" of being myself.

ruveyn