My stance on a cure for autism

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I believe that if someone is really and truly suffering from their mental condition, be it autism or anything else, they should be allowed to choose to seek out a cure for it.

Keyword: Choose. Unless the mental condition does not allow them to give consent, the administering of the cure should be consensual.

It should also not be used before any sort of suffering is confirmed. This is why I am opposed to what Autism Speaks is doing by trying to find autism prenatally and aborting the fetus without giving the child any chance to cope. I mean, I'm all for a women's right to choose, but your child having autism is a very bad reason to do it, and crosses into the territory of eugenics.

A cure would be no use to me. I'd still have the same circumstances, yet would be expected to function in society. It's bad enough for me having to explain to people how I'm fifty three and have never had a job due to my hidden disability, but it would be even harder when I've got no disability at all. My Asperger's syndrome isn't my problem and so I don't need a cure; it's my circumstances that are the problem - and I need these to change.

Phoenix, I agree with your main point to an extent. When you give people that choice, though, it muddies the waters further. I don't think we, as humans, are capable of weighing this choice appropriately.

My issue is with minors who cannot give consent. In those cases, the parent(s) would have final say in administering a cure until the child turned 18+. I assume many parents would administer this hypothetical cure without regard to what the Autistic child actually wants.

Further, what happens if after the cure is administered the former Autistic actually suffers more as an NT?

A question; would this hypothetical extend to the neurotypical? Would those neurotypicals who are found to suffer from the flawed aspects of their neurological system be able to 'cure' themselves and become members of the autistic spectrum?

I dunno about "pure" autism, but I think I have a cure for Aspergers...
My proposal: society shifts its attitude, and learns to understand that many people with Aspergers are talented and the only thing holding back those talents are the NT-centric way that society deals with people. There's the cure!

One concern with talking about curing or preventing autism that I would have, is that it isn't clear that this condition has been adequately defined or explained. The effects of the condition vary widely depending on an unknown number of factors. Given the probable number of undiagnosed adults walking around (those of us who have been invisibly coping with it for decades) it is also obvious that the condition doesn't have the same trajectory for all who have it, even for those whose initial problems are relatively severe.

I'd really rather see more adaptation and acceptance from the broader human community. We would all benefit from learning how to deal more appropriately with diversity, as at no point in human history has that skill been more urgently needed than it is now. So it's not all about benefiting people with a certain set of typical brain functional patterns, but about building a resilient community that handles divergent thinking and behaviour with more flexibility and compassion.

That is really the 'cure' I'd like to see developed, but as long as this condition is discussed as a state of 'brokenness' of the individual, the opportunity for broader and more inclusive solutions will continue to be dismissed (in my opinion).

We are not educated as to the whys and hows people actually behave and everybody loses out in the long run because of it. NTs neurotypicals everyone.

nts and autistic spectrum, sorry about that

I don't want a "cure", I want freaking acceptance! If the world can't accept that I think differently from the rest of it I say to hell with them!

The state of our current understanding is that the mind is everyone's own business.

Everybody understands it but in a different way.

And the net result is that nobody understands it.

As long as this situation persists not only will people with austism suffer, but those with schizophrenia and other conditions will also fail to find effective methods to deal with their condition.

Two bodies in space and time, one body says "the mind" the other body pulls away.

From my own personal perspective, I do not even understand what a cure for my autism would look like.
The way my brain works is autistic. Autism is a part of my identity. It is who I am. Of course I'm not "just" autism but it's not something I suffer from, it's my personality. And Autism looks different in everyone, of course, but I just don't think I'd be me if I weren't autistic. If I were "cured", the person my family loves would be gone, the person my friends like would be gone, and I wouldn't trust anyone with the power to wipe out my personality. Not even myself.
Again, other people may well feel differently. But just to note I find certain aspects of being autistic in a neurotypical world very distressing, so I'm not rejecting a cure because I have no problems. But my opinion is most of the problems I face are due to a lack of understanding in society and not due to me being "faulty" or "disordered."
I don't think a cure is possible, either.

If I were to undergo a "Miracle cure" wouldn't I change everything about myself? I am not willing to do that.