do you want to be cured?

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I don't think it's possible (or at least it won't be possible anytime soon) to actually cure autism (although I have read about Rett's disorder being reversed in mice but Retts is not the same as AS, AD and PDD-NOS). It'd be fascinating if scientists were able to do such a thing, though it's unlikely that a cure is ever going to exist purely because of how complex the condition is. Now, me not being a scientist, I can't say much about the scientific aspect of a cure so lets imagine it's a button that can be pressed that will eliminate all your autistic traits and make you a regular neurotypical person.

I wouldn't press it. Being neurotypical won't make me happier. It won't make me worse, it just won't make me better. I'm acquianted with my neurology and though I'm not completely happy with much of my life, I have to thank AS for some of the good stuff (personal reasons, of course).

Not that I'll persecute anyone who wishes to be cured or at least can overcome the obstacles that come with it (which some believe a cure would do).

No way, I never ever want to be "cured". Aspergers is a big chunk of me, and I wouldn't be the same person I am now if I were "cured".

In short, if the cure were to snap your fingers to become normal, I'd be reaching for any available knife to hack off my fingers, even if it were a butter knife.

I see where you are coming from now. No, I meant the former (aren't here voting). Quite often when I look at questions, I pan back a ways and look at the bigger picture and then fail to adequately note where I'm coming from. I'm sure most, if not all, of the persons who voted yes in the poll where well aware of what they were talking about. I meant only to respond about the question in general and not as it relates solely to the forum (basing my statement on the language in the original question using the term, "autism" which is more inclusive than just this forum).

Apologies for the misunderstanding and I'm glad you pointed this out as it keeps me on my toes and paying attention to what I say.

What do you mean cured? If that meant all my social issues and anxiety was gone then yea, why wouldn't I?

No I am very happy the way I am and it is worth my challanges. Besides if you take my autism who do I become?

Both groups are just as likely to be conceited or down to earth, you could have conceited AS-ers (I went to school with one, what a prick he was) and down to earth NTs and vice versa.

No. I like my mind the way it is, but certain stuff would be nice to get rid of. I'd like to be able to drive without having overloads.

Maybe I could swap it for some other ASD trait? Can I have a nice one? A savant skill, like say the ability to retain my eidetic images and draw perfect reconstructions?? :D

I think your answer to the question matters less than the impact of the question itself on society's acceptance of disability, and of how it handles autism in particular.

If people assume that the best possible thing for an autistic person is a cure, then they will see autistic people the way they see people with an illness--the people are better off without the illness; the illness is something extra, something that isn't part of them; the goal of their lives should be to get rid of the illness so they can live a normal life again.

That there isn't a cure doesn't matter much to the way autistic people are treated if the cure is presumed to be the goal. If a cure is the goal, then there won't be very much effort to let autistic people live good lives as autistic people. There won't be much effort to educate them, or to accommodate them in the workplace, or to include them in the community. There'll just be a search for a cure; and autistic people will be presumed to be waiting around until the cure comes and they can live lives as normal people.

On the other hand, if a cure is not the goal, then you have to deal with the reality of autistic people living in this world as autistic people--not just as people who are sick and waiting for a cure. You have to deal with educating autistic children; you have to deal with the services autistic adults need; you have to deal with teaching non-autistics to live and work side-by-side with the autistic members of their communities. If you aren't focusing on a cure, then your goal becomes the acceptance of diversity.

To focus on a cure when there is no cure is a very good way of saying, "We don't want autistic people in our community; we don't want to have to deal with the hassle; we don't want to have to deal with people who are different. We just want them cured so that they will be like us."

I do not need to be "cured". Being "cured" implies that there is something wrong with me in the first place.

The day they find a cure for Autism will be the happiest day of my life. I'd be able to make friends, I'd no longer have anxiety problems so therefore I'd be able to go to school again...let's just say it would make my life much happier and easier, what's not to like? :/

HELL NO!! !

I don't agree that "most people, if not all, of the persons who voted yes in the poll where well aware of what they were talking about."

Some are just kids still, some may live comfy lives supported by another, or by a government. These sort of cushions take away from the reality of the situation. That is.. without whatever support they are getting they may fail to function in the working world and end up living on the streets. I don't want a cure for myself, I just want to get a job. I can work, I don't have to be social to do that. Although, if all approaches failed to acquire that, I may want the cure. It is better to be safe and independent, than it is to be a on the streets, or a leech of society.

Those who advocate growth and sense of self and all that yadda. Hate to break it to you, but if you got a cure, and you didn't like the new "you" you could still do all that growing and crap you talk about and perhaps find a new sense of you. If you didn't like it, you could grow even more! Bury your damn head in dirt and water yourself! Grow like a weed!

Also, part of growing is challenging yourself. By not challenging yourself, you're not growing. Sounds to me like people want the good (challenging what they want) without the bad (challenging their problems).

The only things I would love to cure are my anxiety and learning disability. I would make my boobs smallar too if it were free and it wouldn't be painful. But my AS, nah. Maybe get rid of the negative traits and leave the positive. At least I got over my inflexibility and learned to deal with change. Also my poor balance was fixed and my sensory issues got milder.

I don't know what I'd be without it - average? No thanks. If all those traits just disappeared from me I would be a radically different person, so no, because essentially, the me I know would die....I think. Hm...that gets philosophical quite fast.

How could one cure something that is not an disease? Could I be 'cured' of being a woman, and if yes: would that make me a man?

Hmm... maybe it would make you androgynous?

Of course AS isn't a disease; nothing's out of balance. I guess the cure they are talking about would be the result of what would happen if you could somehow transplant someone's consciousness from an Aspie brain to an NT one (if you ignored the probable result of trying to adjust from being one to the other, which would be a severely miswired brain and probably be something like getting a traumatic brain injury)...