How Serious Is Autism To You?

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For me I think that one of the main problems that some people seem to experience with autism is acceptance, but I'm not talking about acceptance by nautistic people but by themselves. There appear to be three different stances that people take which in simple terms amount to 1) Autism is great, better than being "ordinary." 2) Autism is a curse. Or 3) It is what it is.

I opt for the third stance. Oh sure autism can and does cause problems in my life but so do my epilepsy, diabetes and heart failure and I don't let them dictate my life either. I simply accept them as being a part of who I am, just as autism is also a part of me but it doesn't define me. I treat all of my conditions with due caution and the respect that they deserve but I don't dwell on any of them. I just get on with living my life the best that I can.

Exactly. It's impossible. And just because I can come across ok if I'm well prepared / understand / can predict / control, and hold a normal conversation, people assume my difficulties with employment are due to not trying.
They don't understand that for many autistic people, abilities and disabilities are inconsistent. Just because I'm intelligent and can comprehend, does not mean I can deal like anyone else, and things that a easy for them will be impossible for me.
Autism is serious to me. And I'd like to say I'm all progressive and see it as a difference rather than a disability (and I usually keep out of this discussion) but to be honest I don't. It's different to the examples above, even things like dysphoria which can be life-threatening. There is a cure for this. Any transgender person who experiences dysphoria to an extreme degree gets treated for it via transition. I'd cure autism in myself if I could. I'm too old to be this nonfunctional. It's not cute in an adult, no one wants to deal with it, and it restricts every area of my life.
I'm not saying everyone has to feel this way about their own situation. I'm not them. But I believe autism stops me from having a good life.

As for wanting a cure for autism be careful what you ask for. At least in some cases transcranial magnetic stimulation can in some cases reverse some of the effects at least temporarily & in some cases permanently however the cure can in some cases can have devastating consequences as one person found once he had TMS as the ability to read emotions & body language lead to the disolving of several of his relationships including his marriage.

There was also the fact that reading & feeling the emotions of other's was very overwhelming to him at least for a while. Some of his previous relationships were indeed unhealthy so losing them was actually a good thing but some were not that were lost.

Overall he was still glad he did so but it wasn't without a lot of heart break. As such it is clearly not for everybody who is autistic

Yup... Even in his own words said,'Be careful what you wish for!'

^ Yah, maybe more accurate would be to say do you wish you were born neurotypical, or given the choice, would you choose not to have been born autistic. Then absolutely yes.
But to reverse it suddenly, to cure it as an adult, would possibly be too jarring.
Maybe by the time you're an adult, it's too late, even if there was theoretically a cure.

To me, autism is something that I've learned to work around enough to work a 5 hour day. After that, I need to be myself and let myself be free. I don't see the need to be free as a problem. There are some people who might see it as a problem, though they can't control my dress and behaviour. One of my friends asked, what do you think the war vets think when they see your helmet. I told him, that man probably expects me to be a lady. I also told him that the vets need to learn that people don't fit into two neat little categories and they also need to learn that gender is a spectrum and I come as close to being as male as possible without the operation.

Disability is definitely how I view ASDs- so very serious. Autism symptoms can affect so much.

This is my 8220th post on WP. I am still here dispite horrific software. Most every day I google "autism" to see what happened in the prevoius 24 hours, I have have read both "Neurotribes" and "In a Different Key" autism history, so I think that is pretty good evidence I take it seriously.

Whether the serious difficulties of life on the spectrum are caused by impairments, society or some combination of the two still means life on the spectrum presents serious difficulties.

If I am diagnosed with what I suspect..then a lot..I'm constantly anxious, paranoid, even delusional at times. I have severe impulse control issues which have got me into trouble in the past and more recently, an encounter with the law. I have bad self control issues and build things up in my mind until I explode and usually end up damaging something in the house...the light switch got it recently. It's better than lashing out at my partner. My partner usually has to hold me down on the bed or the floor until I gain control. It's terrifying. We're both big guys and could cause damage if we both lost control to each other, but we don't. I hate it when that happens. Happened recently outside...felt weird...panicky...couldn't move backwards or forwards..stuck there on the spot..felt dizzy...everything seemed to sparkle...everyone was walking towards me and that was increasing the panic. I find it hard to keep up a job...my paranoia gets so bad that I usually end up having to leave hence I've never held down a perm job (I'm a contractor). I worry too much about my job performance and that increases my anxiety to high levels. I seek strong positive emotions as I really don't feel positive emotions on a normal day...this took the form of pornography and chemical stimulants which I recently gave up as it was affecting my personal life. It was all to do with trying to give myself positive emotions to cover up the bad ones which my psychiatrist calls 'self soothing'. All in all...crap...

However, sometimes we have good days. My partner is incredible and has so much patience...deserves a medal really. Only time I'm truly happy is when Im sitting in front of my computer, my music keyboard and Logic Pro running. I spend hours composing..great fun

Greetings. For me, it's very serious. I don't joke around about it. I do see some people feeling that "it's just a difference". Well, in my (maybe unpopular) opinion, then you don't have autism. Autism means it impairs your life and functioning. If it's just a difference, then you feel it doesn't impair your life, which would disqualify you from the criteria for autism. I wouldn't have bothered getting diagnosed if I felt it was just a "difference". I have cried over how awkward and how I can't do social appropriate things. I get so obsessed with my interest that I ignore others, and whenever someone mentions it, I have to keep talking about it. I just want to look into my interest. And when people change plans, I get so worried that it was because they don't like me. If there is a change of plans, I get really anxious from the sudden change. I can't read social situations. If someone is crying, I feel they are sad, but can't tell you what is causing their saddens or something more complex (sad or anxious; unpleasant). It sucks. I try my best, but in the end, it's my disability. Sure, I am good at knowing and memorizing stuff about my special interest, and my intelligence level may or may not relate to my autism, but if I could, I'd get rid of autism. I wish I could do other things and have good relationships and not want to avoid people.

But for me, I keep moving on. I would like to do OT for some of the fine motor deficits I have, along with sensory issues. I also would like to do some social therapy. I will keep doing whatever I can to improve myself.

I think it's very serious. I have seen videos about how affected kids are by it and how much it impacts their life so if anyone out there thinks autism is just a difference and another way of thinking, they should read The Difficult Child.

Is it possible to overcome autism to a point where you live a normal life and it doesn't impact you that much anymore to a point it's an impairment than a nuisance, yes.

With my original replies i was in no way saying that it wasnt!! !! What i was referring to was the wording used from the general populous point of view... I dont wish to go into detail again! so will leave it at that, if people still think im downplaying then they have misunderstood my statements! if people still dont believe then they obviously have superpowers way beyond my own and are able to know exactly what i am thinking and feeling so in essence there would never be a need for me to ever post here again as they already know what i am going to say..... I only refereed to a couple of areas that many on the spectrum relate to, if you wish to have the FULL picture of what i was meaning, you might have to wait some time for me to compile a novel! I do the best i can but get misunderstood as much here as i do out there! The bloody irony and contradictions here sometimes would be funny if it wasn't so bloody tragic!

I need to learn that autism effects people in different ways and people react to it different ways and have different feelings about it.

It's a disability to me, but not something I want cured. I don't see disability as necessarily a bad thing - in fact, you could argue being gay is a disability because it makes finding a partner and having kids more difficult. That doesn't stop gay people from embracing their condition.

To me, a disability just means that your abilities don't match up with what society expects, and as a result you find certain tasks difficult that society takes for granted. What's so terrible about that? Most of the really bad problems that disabilities can cause are due to lack of understanding and accommodation.

Imagine if almost everyone was autistic. NTs would be the ones with a disability. They'd struggle with social interaction (being overly social, making excessive eye contact, not knowing how to read autistic nonverbal cues), with sensory issues (understimulation and sensation seeking), and so forth.

Or what ifalmost everyone was Deaf? Hearing people would be overly distractible, visually inattentive, and get overloaded by sounds (Deaf people often like very loud music because they can feel the vibrations and may be able to hear it a little if they aren't completely deaf).

If almost everyone used a wheelchair, there'd be no convenient placement of chairs, and everything would be placed at a comfortable wheelchair height. It would be awkward unless you brought your own chair everywhere.

For me it is a pervasive disability and I can not imagine my life without it. But this disability is generally not painful and usually is not associated with suffering. I have "no" interest in normal life, "in socialisation". I function in other way, this difference is very problematic in some areas of life, like earning money.

I agree with these observations.