Autism cure

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I know this might sound offensive to people, but to me autism hurts. I have joined autism research in Cambridge hoping that someday they will find something that can help me and other autistics.
Does anybody else sometimes wish they weren't autistic?

If I wasn't autistic I would be someone else entirely, and I dont know who that would be. I wish there was something to help me with my executive functioning deficits but thats about it. I have plenty of physical chronic illnesses that Id want a cure for that will never come.

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yeah sometimes i wish i weren't autistic. then maybe i would have an easier time with social interactions and emotional regulation.

but whatever. there ain't no autism cure. and if there were it would cost a lot of $$.

For me personally, I would probably want a cure. I don't get a lot of benefit from my autism, the way it affects me, but I get plenty of downsides. I used to have the stereotypical Aspie memory, but I think depression has permanently damaged it (at least, looking back, it seems like that's when I started to have trouble with my memory). My obsessions are rarely anything useful (presently Pokemon, the band Tool, and a couple movies). My attention to detail is both a good thing and a bad thing, because I will often hyper-focus on details and miss other things. I would be uncertain if it was an irreversible cure because I would be a completely different person and it might not work out the way I hope, and the transition period while I adjusted to not being autistic anymore would be a nightmare, I'm sure, but at the end of it, I would probably at least be able to function in society and support myself, which I am not right now. For me, the downsides of being autistic outweigh the benefits, so I would probably end up choosing it if it was an option. It would be ideal to me if it wasn't or didn't have to be a permanent cure, so I could try it, and if I didn't like the neurotypical me, I could go back to being autistic. Then I would definitely try it without hesitation.

Thing the is, I get panicky because I can't understand what people feeling. Things would be so much easier if I knew who to trust and who not to trust.
I think we fear a cure because we find it difficult to imagine new things. I also find planning for the future difficult.

All the time. If it weren't for the depression I could live with it, I don't particularly have a desire to be "normal" or for social living, but depression, self hatred and being a bit slow and not quite with it, and being actually aware of all the above and having an ASD, not just through being diagnosed but actually seeing the symptoms and being mostly unable to do owt about them, can wear a person down over time. I wouldn't want to be a completely different person, just to be able to be really on the ball and not be so limited mentally and even physically and have better coordination and mental multi-tasking abilities would be great. I'm not nearly as "limited" as the people in the world who have much worse conditions, but being limited at all and somehow being aware of it (and the rest) is a living hell

Nothing can be done about it though, and I seek no sympathy from anyone ever, I don't even seek empathy or understanding anymore, I just try, and fail badly, not to try make everything revolve around me and be negative. Lately I'm generally in better moods, any depression I get is mostly tamed at last, but it's still an everyday struggle, and there's probably people with the same as what I have, self awareness included, who are affected way worse than me, so I'm not trying to make out that I'm the most tortured soul and the most afflicted person in the world, or even round my way, I just wish I could break through this compression known as Autism/Asperger's and do whatever the hell I want without mental restrictions which lead to social restrictions ie getting a job

(I'm not that bothered about socialising and as for courting, I won't say no but I want to change for ME, no one else, and if any potential boyfriend or maybe even girlfriend-depending on the person more than the gender-can't take me as I am or as I want to be then they will be kicked to the kerb)

(Diagnosed in 2000 aged 12 ((before 13th birthday)). Started to become self aware of my symptoms and began to feel self hatred and depressed in 2007, aged either 19 or 20. Started self harming off and on in September 2011, aged 24. Tried anti depressants for the first time throughout 2016 ((Mirtazapine then Sertraline)), aged 28 and 29. Started cutting my arms in late 2016 and continued doing so in early 2017, aged 29)

I honestly don't want to be cured of my autism. It's what makes me, me.

Sometimes I wish I was not autistic

Although being autistics has advantages

When I have no friends

When I feel left out

When the bathroom hand dryer hurts my ears

When I feel anxiety

Even eating new foods is hard






But autism has advantages




However even if there were a cure, I could not financially afford the cure

And if I could financially afford the cure, then what

I am 34 year old.

Maybe it is too late to be a "happy child"

I don't necessarily want a cure, as that is technically impossible genetically. I would just like the following neurotypical benefits:

to be able to read social situations better, so I can stop being taken advantage of,

make actual, and lasting friendships,

rise up the career ladder faster by having better communication skills, and being able to network

Being able to enjoy parties and social events

have more energy to take online classes while working a full time job and commuting, as right now, I only have enough energy to do the bare minimum to get through each day, i.e. drive to work, pretend to be normal, and drive back home, shower, and sleep.

I think finding a cure for autism should be a high priority, and if a cure isn't feasible, then prenatal detection and prevention. I know this is an unpopular opinion, though.

give me extra chromosomes whilst you're at it, might give me super speed or something

in the future, if someone discovers a cure for autism, the cure will cost too much for a panhandler to afford

if the cure were free, then what?

i am already 34 years old

too far gone
lost cause
"a day late, a dollar short".

and besides, if i took the "cure", i would be an entirely different person. while i often wish i were NT, i wish i were NT since birth. not since age 34 and counting.

I'm not 100% sure that a cure is even possible, because the neurology of someone on the Spectrum is very different than that of someone who's Neurotypical. That being said, I personally wouldn't want a cure. I'm getting to a point where I like who I am and am really starting to embrace my differences that Asperger's gives me.

However, if I'm wrong and a cure can be developed, it's not my place to say if someone should or shouldn't take it. I certainly wouldn't shame someone who felt that their ASD was a burden to them because everyone has different experiences with their own autism. I've worked with autistic kids whose IQs were lower than 75 and could barely function; I wouldn't be against it if they could be cured to give them a better chance at a good life.

Makes me laugh when people say "impossible". In my lifetime I have seen stem cell and gene altering technologies making big strides toward what was thought "impossible" a mere decade ago. People need to open their minds more, what is seemingly impossible today could well be possible long before you die.

I'm not sure at this point in time if there could be something that would completely alter one's neurology, but you never know. You do present an excellent point in saying that many once-impossible claims have eventually been proven possible. It's true that I'm a skeptic about the possibility of a cure right now, but I'm more than willing to eat crow (figuratively, of course) if it turns out that I'm wrong about it.

I would be very doubtful if rewiting an adult's mind would do any good - this brain has been trained for all the person's life, after the rewire the person would not be "normal" because they would be lacking all the learning that should be acquired through a person's life.
Maybe one day they would find a treatment useful for children. Maybe.

I would rather welcome particular treatments for sensory issues, anxiety, depression and social problems than a general "cure for autism".