If a cure for ASD/Asperger's/autism was found?

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Should there be an opt in or opt out system as to whether a person wants to be cured or not ?

Because the "cure" would be given primarily to pre-verbal children (Who cares about us adults anyway?), there would be no way to ask them whether they want to opt in or opt out. It would most likely be given universally to all autistic children (except maybe the children of a few very wealthy nonconformists), because that would be seen as the most "cost effective" thing to do.

And here's the big ethical quandary -- for everyone, not just autistic kids, their parents, and their doctors:

Once brain science has developed the ability to do such radical brain-tinkering, it would then be a small step to develop similar radical brain-tinkering "cures" for all manner of other, less complex behavioral "abnormalities" too. And they too would most likely be required for all or most of the affected children, also for the sake of "cost effectiveness."

Eventually all children, except maybe the children of the ultra-rich, could be brain-tinkered into becoming 100% reliable obedient slaves.

In a world where totalitarian regimes still exist, and where even democratic regimes still don't have quite adequate checks and balances, and where there are still great disparities in wealth, the prospect of this happening is ... extremely creepy, to say the least.

Last edited by Mona Pereth on 02 Sep 2019, 5:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I never thought of the prospect of an autism cure that way. I would want it for myself because I don't like what Autism has done to my life, but I would never want a cure to be forced on anyone. I would rather it be like cochlear implants for the deaf. If you're deaf and want to be able to hear, you'd go for the implant of your own free will. The same should be true of an Autism cure.

Would you be satisfied with the combination of the following:

1) Treatments for the most disabling aspects of your condition (though not a "cure" for autism per se).

2) An organized subculture in which you could be socially accepted.

3) Some means of finding a decent-paying job.

Of course there should choice, (And a way to keep parents from forcing it on children, and a way to keep insurance from leveraging it, ect) but chances are it would be forced on people one way or another.

Research needs to go in more ethical and more possible directions. Support rather than getting rid of us.

1 makes good sense , ie not losing any good aspects while improving the disabling aspects .

A “cure” is not going to happen because there are too many discrete causes of autism.

Not in the near future, at least -- although brain science could, conceivably, at some point in the distant future, eventually reach the point where such radical (and highly individualized) brain-tinkering becomes feasible.

Alas, too big a percentage of today's autism research money is being poured down this very deep rabbit hole.

There is gene editing technology that could conceivably cure autism or some of the autisms.

My prediction is that if a cure found there would be a choice but in practicality there would be no choice.

Not taking the cure would stigmatize you big time. The thinking would be there is something very wrong with people who chose not to be cured. Not wanting to be cured might be seen as a sign of a factitious disorder. There would be no benefits or accommodations given to refusenicks because why give benefits to people who chose to be that way? Refusing would be make you unemployable or get you fired. Insurance companies would refuse to insure you or triple your rates.

The peer and practical pressures on pro ND parents to cure their children would be enormous.

The amount of autistics would drop by over 95 percent. Autism would not be completely eliminated because there are always contrarians and idealists who stick to guns no matter what. What is left of the neurodiversity movement would be seen as a morbid curiosity or a cult.

Big problem with that: The development of such gene-editing "cures" would be most "cost-effective" per person for the genetically most common types of autism. I don't know this for sure, but I would suspect that the most common types of autism would the be the kinds most likely to have been around in the gene pool for a long time, hence most likely to have had survival value. If that's true, then a gene-editing "cure" could easily result in the worst of all possible worlds for autistic people: A "cure" for the kinds of autism that are both relatively mild and accompanied by genius, but not for the most severely disabling kinds (which are more likely to have been caused by rarer recent or de novo mutations).


Yes, indeed.

This makes it urgent for us to get organized ASAP to make the world more liveable for autistic people, so that our community will have enough clout to influence autism research so it better serves our actual needs.

This choice issue is very conflicting for me. On one hand I am pro choice and feel who am I to tell people they can’t make such a basic choice about their own lives. I do think a lot of this autism is a curse thinking is internalized ableism but how can I preach “nothing about us, without us” and them turn around say you should not be allowed to cure yourself because despite not being you I know it is internalized ableism and it is for the greater good?

On the other hand I truly expect catastrophic circumstances should a cure be found.

I find many anti cure people confusing. On the one hand they say a cure would be horrible on the other hand they say it will never happen. Which is it and why waste time and mental energy on something you think is not going to happen? CRISPER convinced me what I kind of believed anyway that someway, somehow it is going to happen and it is too late to stop it, the genie is out of the bottle so to speak.

In an American context it won’t look like Nazis marching Jews off to the gas chambers. Americans will not accept stark government mandates for a cure look how hard it has been to stop the anti vaxx movement. Americans want the appearance of choice. It has to be couched in positive politically correct language. Gene editing is called consumer eugenics for a reason.

What the autism rights movement needs to do is take off it’s blinders, move out it SJW direction it has been going in and start thinking about a post cure world. Just because a cure is inevitable and significant damage will be done does not mean nothing can be done. Some of the consequences mentioned above if they can not be prevented can be made less bad. This is honorable and worthy. In order to do that it they need to be anticipated and the autism rights movements needs to not engage in the zero sum game thinking prevalent in todays American politics.

I agree about the Autism Rights/Neurodiversity movement needing to move away from the SJW realm as SJWs are doing more harm than good to society and culture. Some take it to ludicrous extremes, such as saying that "White Christmas" is racist just because it contains the word "White." The SJWs try to speak for everyone when saying what is and is not offensive or some sort of -ist. "Don't use gender pronouns! You'll offend the Transgenders!" "Don't bring up Nidal Hassan's radical beliefs! That's racial profiling! It offends ALL Muslims!" "Don't put up a Christmas Tree! It'll offend non-Christians!" "Don't talk about wanting to help your kid who can't talk and may have severe sensory processing issues! That's 'Ableist!'" Autism is such a diverse spectrum. Not everyone on it is a genius. Not every Autistic is going to be successful at life, even if they ARE high-functioning. I'm high-functioning, but, at 35, I still live at home with a mother who is most likely becoming burned out. I would like to be cured myself.

I do think there needs to be something to counter the antisocial , barbaric and toxic right wing elements in society . Having said that going down the road of saying 'White Christmas is racist' , as a part of that, trivialises the issue .

I write assuming that I am on the autistic spectrum...

At first I thought "Great. No shutdowns". But then I started to think about socializing, and acting or being "Normal". NO, NO, NO! I don't want to be anything different to how I am now. I have had years of people trying to change me to conform.... And I don't even want to conform.
And I feel like a cure would change me to be something I could not cope with. Melting into a sea of normality. Wierdly, the very concept is like an act. I would be spending my life acting.
Oh gosh! If masking is difficult, think how much more acting is? Somehow both do not feel the same.
To be cured would be such a dramatic life change that I would likely have a breakdown.
I am me. Just as I have been created. A cure would mean I will noo longer be me. As if my whole character will change. NO! Sorry. I can't handle chnge like this. It has been as much of a mental challenge to find out I have a few traits where I am likely to be on the spectrum. But to have my whole character of who I am altered. NO! I cant deal with it.

It would be far too late for me to partake of any such "cure".

The more appropriate time would have been before kindergarten, but during that time (late 1950s to early 1960s) autistic children were either sent away, heavily medicated and kept out of sight, or their parents would try to beat the autism out of them.

Back then, to have a "ret*d"* in the family was a source of shame.

*Their word, not mine.

Yes, if there was a way to restructure my brain that meant I no longer met the diagnostic criteria for autistic, I'd jump at the chance. I'd pretty much take it at any cost, really. I despise this condition.