Excuse me, (WARNING: Pro-Cure Topic)

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but, do you anti-cure people have anything against an aspie wanting to behave like an NT and not be taken advantage of?

Curing is different than "acting like an NT." Curing is transforming someone into an NT, which involves transforming their identity and personality.

To answer your question, no, there is nothing wrong with wanting to fit in. I, in fact, am able to do that.

Also, don't label this "pro-cure" and "anti-cure", as it implies that there are only two distinct and discrete choices, where in fact there is a range (a "spectrum", if you will ) of stances on the subject.

Yes. Also, it would be nice if people could just merge NTs, PDD-NOS and AS people into one status quo.

I think I follow your train of thought. One question though. Why must spectrum individuals fit into the majority/the middle/the average in exchange for friendships and loving relationships?Why must anyone for that matter?

Why must spectrum people or anyone have to fit in to have friends?
Well we DONT!! !

Most of my mates are also very obstinantly themselves and we wouldnt have it any other way!
If people need you to change who you are, you dont need them!
IF your behaviour effects someone badly, they can leave! And they have that right.

CURE? Not! But us special sensitive folk can get along easier if taught to "pretend" in certain situations. Survival skills, in that "real world".

HOWEVER, I do get angry when people try to "normalize" a person, rather than their behaviour. I feel sorry for people who are less verbal/able to communicate and stand up for themsleves in the system that DOES try to make people who are black, through to white, sometimes both, stripy...all colours of the rainbow! But they try to make some of us grey. Cos colorful people who are not simple squares, are harder for their boring heads to deal with!

I think more than being "anti-cure" the people against a "cure" are against Autism Speaks' vision of "a world without autism." It's been discussed and discussed, and nobody really seems to be able to figure out what a cure would even do. Therefore, such a "world without autism" would be one in which babies with autism genes (when they're found) are aborted.
While ASDs cause difficulty in functioning, and it would be nice to not have those difficulties, so much of how people with ASDs identify themselves, personalities, etc., is at least related to the traits. The nature of a spectrum is that it's not a have-it-or-not thing.. that's why it's called a spectrum. The workgroup for PDDs for the next edition of the DSM is actually planning on acknowledging sub-clinical AS, so that people without a disorder will still technically be on the spectrum. If getting people to that level, where they don't have impaired functioning but are still "on the spectrum" and think the same way is considered to be "cured," then I'd doubt that there's anybody here who would complain about that "cure."

Jimmister, I don't have a problem with people who want cures getting cures. That is a personal choice that is up the individual.

What a lot of people here mean when they say "cure" is a forced cure. The attitude of a lot of parents and school officials leads us to believe that if a cure existed, we would be forced to take it. However, should a cure be found, I see no problem with you or anyone else who wants it taking it. Just leave the rest of us - the ones who are comfortable with who we are - out of it.

Now do you get what our stance is?

It occurs that we usually think of NTs as being on one end of the spectrum then aspies, and finally auties; what if this is wrong and the NTs aren't the end but the middle? What would an anti-aspie be like, someone who is as far along the spectrum from NTs as we are but in the opposite direction?

I'm not against a cure. I think the ideal thing would be if there was a cure and people could choose if they wanted it or not.

I believe each of us with AS/autism has his or her own right to choose if a cure ever came about. If a cure came about, and you took it, that is fine. But my choice is "No." No cure for me.

A bit like this?

WIN.

There is a stark difference between a "cure" and adaptation, in my mind. What works for one person may not work for another; if 'acting' in another manner works for you, then what issue would there be? I have no interest in a cure, but I work constantly to find better ways to understand and function. For me, that is less about mimicking others than it is about determining principles and perspectives that I can 'learn' for lack of a better term.


M.