Why autism people worry about a cure

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Why do people with autism worry about a cure when there isn't one. Besides it might years before a cure is found.

An organization can raise a lot of money and pay the organizers a lot of money while searching for a cure.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/defau ... nal_02.pdf

For example, Autism Speaks says that 73% of research goes to programs, while the other 27% goes to fundraising, administration, and deficit.

what do you mean by worry? Do you mean worrying about a cure not being found in their lifetime or a cruel and/or compulsory one?

1. A cure - being of necessity a neurological alteration - would change who we are.

2. A cure - being of necessity a behavioral alteration - would only 'cure' the anxiety of those who can't accept us as we are.

3. A cure - being of necessity an imposition of will - would be a violation of our own right to choose what is being done to us.

Only people who don't have it worry about a cure. Anyone who has it (and is not miseducated) knows it a different brain structure and is nothing curable or to be cured.

Because we are afraid of change.

Some of it is (besides the point that it is neurological and changing the brain structure is not going to happen), is that many of the problems also have upsides, and several of the social problems come from others not accepting social differences.

Sensory problems are painful and overwhelming sometimes. Other times it means I can find something, hear something, notice problems that others do not notice easily. I find patterns that others miss and interpret as chaos.

Social interaction problems are a problems because other people say the way I interact socially is wrong.

Repetitive behavior is only a problem if it self harms. Otherwise it is just a problem to other people and should be allowed and not criticized.

A neurological condition affects who I am and how I think. To change that changes who I am, my personality, my likes, my perception etc.

It's taken me over 50 years to learn how to interact with people. If I were "cured", I'd have to re-learn all of it all over again.

I'm not worried. They can search for a cure all they want; they are not going to find one. Autism is caused by hard-wiring in the brain. They cannot "fix" that. Not every single person on the planet is going to be the NT definition of "perfect".

If they ever cure autism, I bet there will be a rapid decrease in technological innovations. I truly believe it takes autistic minds working with neurotypical minds to make the world a successful place.

I don't think it's that black and white.

What if they find a way to only get rid of the problems without affecting any associated strengths?

I don't see a problem with that at all.

Because the more people push me to conform, the more I'm going to rebel.

that's an interesting point

It's the principle of the thing-finding a cure for autism implies automatically that autism is a bad thing that people need to get rid of. For a lot of people on the spectrum, autism is a big part of their identity-they cannot imagine themselves without it. I can't imagine being NT. So getting rid of autism would mean getting rid of the person that I am. Which kind of sucks.

For one week in my whole life, I felt 100% NT. It was weird, I went to a youth camp and was the most popular, social kid there. Not because everyone else was even stranger than me- they were normal kids- but I was different. Then, right after the closing ceremony, I was back to "normal". Someone reached out to hug goodbye and it kind of ticked me off, due to the touching. Yet, I know I would have been perfectly fine with it just 10 minutes before. Lets just say that I would like to feel that way again, but not permanently. See, during this period, I felt somewhat simple minded. I honestly have no idea what happened in me during that week, but I had absolutely no AS traits, and I was well known. People liked me. I relished it, but, it all came at a cost. There were times in which I did or said something that seemed... stupid in retrospect. They were things that other kids did, but just the way we were talking was stupid. It was normal for a normal American teenager, but I don't want to feel that way permanently. Temporarily would be fun, but not forever.