While reading an anthology called "Voices From The Spectrum", I came across one from Donna Williams, an Autie who shares her usual insightful wisdom to the question of whether Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) should be cured (to the extent possible).
The first thing that struck me about her essay was that she insists on referring to the Spectrum as a "Condition" rather than a "Disorder". This terminology is in keeping with the theme of ASCs as a minority culture, "the largest disability of which is the inability of non-autistic culture to accommodate their differences in respectful, empowering, and constructive ways", particularly in providing "forms of education, communication, social activities/networks, occupation, and employment most appropriate to" [their] "form of information processing." This was one of those reading sessions that left me feeling respected and empowered, as in "Finally! Someone who understands me!", but also frustrated as in "Right. I'll believe it when I see it."
The second point that I found noteworthy was separating the cure of ASCs from curing their symptoms: "a fair proportion of those with ASCs often have a higher level of sometimes disabling co-morbid treatable medical conditions such as gut and immune dysfunctions, mood, anxiety, and compulsive disorders... Whilst these impact and increase the degree of one's 'autism,' these deserve treatment as much as any medical condition when at a level that disables the individual and should not be confused with the ASC itself." This reminds me of what led me to become an Alternative Medicine advocate, namely the way Western medicine tends to treat symptoms instead of causes. I've noticed this theme in several ASC biographies, usually about children whose lives were transformed when their mothers started them on a food-sensitivity diet, or Cranio-Sacral, or hug therapy, etc. Their behavior improved to the point where they could pass for "shy but normal", but they still had to work at social and communication skills, and still had obsessive interests.
So how many of you are optimistic enough to foresee a world where ASCs are treated "in respectful, empowering, and constructive ways"? Where nerd-bashing is no longer considered cool. Where parents, teachers, co-workers and innocent bystanders are capable of accepting us as we are instead of trying to force us to morph into something they can understand, or at least something a little more socially acceptable?
28 Jun 2006, 6:59 pm
