I do NOT want to be cured for Autism Spectrum Disorder!

Post Reply New Topic

The way I see it is that it's not my autism that is the challenge, it's the environment. This is very noticeable, when I am staying with friends or have a strong routine etc I am much happier than when I am living 'independently' and generally getting very anxious and stressed.

Wether my autism traits are 'positive' or 'negative' is a function of the environment and now accepting it is. My friends don't mind slims (they find them cute!) so around them they don't matter. The same stims in other situations would be problematic.

In a good environment (well supported, good routines, minimal variation) I excel and do really well. When the environment is wrong is struggle.

To remove my autism would be to remove a large part of my personality. I'm not sure I would be "me" without it.

Plenty of NTs are unhappy etc... My aim is to be autistically happy

This, for the win!

Sigworthy!

I also don't wish for a cure for my autism, either. I may be more of a Schultz than a Spock, but I still don't wish to be cured.

I really don't like some of the symptoms of autism and I want to change some things about myself, but I wouldn't want a cure. I feel like autism effects the way I view and process everything. Also, a cure would get rid of the good symptoms of autism too. I mostly just want to be understood and treated like an equal.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be cured.

However, there are those who wish for a "cure" and just because there are those who don't want one doesn't mean that research should be stopped or avoided altogether.
I for my part am interested in what causes and what exactly makes autism autism and I like to read on that topic from time to time. It would just be interesting to know. In the end, it's probably too deeply rooted that one could change a person into being "NT", but autism research might allow us to understand the human mind better.

The reasons I don't want a cure for myself is that my experiences with medication and treatments was (so far) not exactly great (I have a chronic illness). I often ended up getting uncomfortable side effects from what is supposed to work just fine without many risks, so I would rather not risk it at all if I knew of a cure.
Apart from that, I learned to cope with at least some of my issues and am working on what remains and on the things I have an effect on. I got used to be the way I am and don't see a point in changing that.
You could say, I'm somewhat fine with myself.

But there are still those who wish to change.
What right would anyone have to take their chance to change if they truly desire so? I also think it's definitely stupid to force someone into getting "cured" too or even indirectly threat them to lose their welfare/supports if they don't take certain "proto-cures". Medication is medication, it's never perfectly safe and just because someone is getting supports it won't automatically make that person a suitable guinea pig.

All this should be up to the person himself/herself and it also should not stop researches on autism.

In a world full of Aspies where Neurotypicals were the rarity, I often wonder if we would come up with a Neurotypical Spectrum Disorder tag & go about obsessively trying to fix them, put them under the microscope & poke at their brains, or would we, because of our wiring evolution, be more accepting & just simply invite them into a world more unified creative colourful &, from our perspective, unbroken...

The way I see it:

I believe that autistic traits are normally present in the population. They aren't necessarily bad. It's only when they are severe or many of them exist together that they become a problem. At least this seems to be what the current research is showing. Autism can also have different causes, so it's not really all the same disorder.

In many cases autistic traits are beneficial. It depends on which traits they are, and on the personality and other abilities or disabilities of the individual.

"Curing autism" could mean a few different things. It could mean taking away only the disabilities associated with autism, so that the person is no longer impaired, and thus does not meet the criteria for autism. This could be done by reducing the severity of the symptoms, or by eliminating them altogether. It would probably involve eliminating or otherwise affecting the cause of the symptoms, which would likely involve changing the brain with therapy, medication, or some other treatment.

"Curing autism" could also mean taking away all of the traits and symptoms associated with autism. This would probably involve changing many aspects of the autistic brain. It seems to me that in doing so, it would likely also change many aspects of the personality of the individual. It would probably only work if a single (or very few) underlying cause could be found which alters the way the brain works and how it is structured, thereby causing autism. So if one particular mechanism seems to be causing the symptoms of a certain type of autism, it's possible that it could be reversed, or at least prevented in early childhood. I'm not sure if this would be possible for most types of autism. However, some people seem to think that it is:

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/oct/12-brain-benders

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/treating-infants-autism-may-eliminate-symptoms-n198671

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-drug-treatment-autism-symptoms-mouse.html

I don't agree with using experimental treatments such as medications on people with autism without their consent. I also don't agree with using anything that is going to completely change an autistic person's brain without the consent and understanding of that person.

Treating symptoms is fine. Doing things that well help an autistic person better communicate, or feel less anxious, or be able to care for him/herself are fine, too, as long as those treatments are safe and have been thoroughly tested.

Anything that is experimental and has the capacity to cause harmful or unintended side effects should only be used on people who are able to consent to the treatment.

If individuals with autism want to be cured, then they should have that choice if a cure becomes available. But I think they should be able to consent to being cured, not just cured because others feel that they should be. I personally would not be willing to try anything that is going to have a major permanent effect on my brain. I don't want major parts of my personality to be changed, either. So if that's what a cure would involve, I don't want one.

Yep.

I'm pretty sure that in a world of role-reversal where NTs are "the NAs"/neuroatypicals, we would try to find a cure for their weird, spontaneous, overly social out-of-the-norm behaviour.

I would like to visualize it with this comparison:
It's easier to make everyone "the same" and the system/society a puzzle of simple, same-coloured squares than to create a society/system that works with many different pieces of a puzzle that you can put at any place.
In the end, with the system of the non-square puzzle, you will always end up with the edge and corner pieces that don't fit just anywhere you would like them to be, which you can't simply swap around, even if all pieces are of the same colour.
Well, these slightly different corner/edge pieces will always be the outsiders.

I agree that I would not want a cure for ASD. It is a part of who I am and for all the negative aspects of it, as someone with only a mild case, there are many benefits that come from it as well.
On the other hand, I disagree with your opinion that scientists shouldn’t research a cure for Autism or even study it at all.

That being said, the option for a cure would be a good one to have for many people on the spectrum. As you see on this thread, there are some people who would choose to take the cure over living with their current disability and if there was a cure, they deserve the right to have the option to use it or not. Then, for the people who are so severely impacted by their condition that they can’t even function without someone constantly supporting them, a cure would give them freedom they could otherwise never have.

As for general Autism studies, I don’t condemn them but am very much in favor of them. Every qualified identification, treatment, and benefit available for Autism, or any disability ever offered is based to some degree on the results of scientific research. Also, despite the fact that bad science of some researchers brought up the shot scare, it is also scientists that have done the research to debunk the idea that shots cause Autism. Without scientific work, people with autism or any other problem would be put under the threat of “miracle cures.”

What I do have a problem with is perception and skewing of the information scientists have found. Sometimes, a group of scientists will approach something with the intention of getting a certain result or make a mistake that effects their results. Then when information is continuously supported despite the fact that large amounts of data suggesting it’s wrong comes to light, I get outright frustrated. Using the Autism from shots scenario, despite the fact that it has been proven that there is no increased correlation found between shots and Autism by multiple scientific experiments, the one that said otherwise still holds a ridiculous amount of power in the public.

Well, I've been waiting for it,

AS has never been beneficial for me.

[quote="Joe90"]AS has never been beneficial for me.[/quot
Yes, but what I'm saying is even if there are somethings that aren't beneifical there are things that are. Like the fact that people with ASD/Autism generally have are much smarter, or that they can hyperfocus. (Which sounds like a superpower) That is just a few examples of what I'm talking about. I hate when people say "I'm Suffering from my Autism like it is some horrible disease.

What i mean by AS has never been beneficial to me, is that I don't have hyperfocus skills, I don't have a good special interest to focus on, and I am not ''more intelligent'' than the general population, otherwise why am I still stuck in a minimum-wage dead-end job while a lot of my NT peers seem to be in jobs they like and what they want to do? Being successful career-wise does not only require social skills, but also strictly requires passion, being attentive, and certain intelligence.

All I feel like is a dimwit. I've never really had special interests as such, just obsessions/crushes with particular people that just made me look like a pathetic stalker. I hate it when people assume that just because you've got AS it means you are hard-wired to hyperfocus on intelligent subjects. Not me.

All AS has done is damage. It made me a problem child, a lonely depressed teen, and a reserved, anxious, inattentive, eccentric adult.

Employment is determined by a lot more things than just intelligence. I've been tested at 137 IQ, but I've never been employed because I struggle with writing resumes, locating potential employers, and a bunch of other skills involved in finding work.

Besides, I don't think autism needs to give you superpowers to be worth keeping. I know a woman with cerebral palsy who would refuse a cure if offered, and she certainly doesn't have superpowers from her disability. People who don't want a cure are people who see their condition as an important part of their identity and have decent self-esteem. It doesn't matter what talents or impairments they have.

Of course, not wanting a cure doesn't mean not wanting help. I'd love to get job training appropriate for my needs. (Unfortunately, the only autism job training program in my area is aimed below my ability level and they think sensory issues are just bad behaviour.) I've also been working very hard to develop independent living skills. But if you offered me a cure, that would mean essentially killing me and replacing me with an NT who looks like me - and I'm not suicidal.

That, to.

I cannot say it better. I just want to learn how to get the guy inside outside for others to see him. Not change into something else.

Whether it would ever come about, it should be a choice.