True Self/Curing Autism? (Kinda philosophical, sorry)

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Hi, new to WP, here're some deets; young college girl, diagnosed age 3, been Autistic all my life, 'passing' as neurotypical basically from high school on (in my opinion), but technically have been able to pass at lowest since I was thirteen or so.

Anyway, I've been doing some light reading on the 'net about people who claim they/their children (usually the latter) have been cured from Autism. They did some behavioral therapy, and now suddenly *poof*, they aren't aspie anymore. Hurray! Right?

I have a philosophical question because it's something I'm interested in discussing for myself as well as hearing other opinions. I've met (completely accidentally) a lot of people lately who are aspie/autistic, and hearing their story of how they became "cognizant" or whatever their version of cognizant is, is something I can relate to. I don't really know if I ever feel fully "normal" or "human" though. If someone is cured of Autism, as these articles claim, does that mean they are outwardly better at hiding it, or has something essential in them changed? For all y'all high-functioning folks, how do you feel internally that's different than how you used to feel?

In high school, I had a big solo in a show I did, and my friend and her mother saw me. Few months later, mentioned in passing to my friend that I was Autistic. She froze; her mother told her that she thought I was Autistic. I asked my friend how her mom knew. She said it was because of the way I walked.

I hadn't been found out in years.

When am I 'cured'? Is that such a thing? When I'm high I often revert to my nasty habits (rocking, slouching, averting eyes), so when am I finally 'normal'? Do I exist outside of my diagnosis?

Discuss.

I don't know about 'curing' autism. I'll be autistic for the rest of my life and there's nothing I can ever do to change that, I've accepted this as factual.

However, I can learn from my mistakes. I can learn social skills, I can gain self-awareness to my disability, and if I can use those to my advantage I can mask my symptoms to appear normal and functioning to the rest of the world, which, short of a nervous breakdown I seem to do very well.

The articles about curing autism are nonsensical psuedo-science vitamins and "herbs" for high functioning autism. It's a scam to sell useless drugs and gain clicks/ad views for people desperate for answers on autism.

1) You are normal.
2) You are cured when you stop stressing about not being 'normal' and accept yourself as autistic.

I like the "autism isn't an illness but a difference" philosophy, because it encourages autistic people to feel OK about themselves, it discourages us from trying too hard to be neurotypical, and it encourages the rest of society to stop seeing us as inferior.

But sometimes the individual autistic person wishes this or that autistic trait would go away because it's messing up their life, and sometimes in a relationship the partner might be hurt by the effects of an autistic trait and wish for an improvement.

The received wisdom seems to be that you can treat the symptoms and develop coping strategies, but that you can't alter the underlying condition. Mostly I agree with that, but I still wonder if some kind of brain-training could be developed that would temper some of the traits. Perhaps executive function could be enhanced by doing specific mental exercises? It would also be interesting to see what hypnotherapy could achieve - if it's true that it's helpful with dermatological conditions, I don't see why it couldn't work for Aspie sensory issues.