Time to stand up against anti-cure

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About six months ago I had no interest in the issue but did know of it from some years back. I was told by email my mother took me around town and had others feel sorry for me from someone living in another state and he was anti-cure. I was reduced to some pathetic person. Where I live I am a known advocate and my mother has had very little to do with my advocacy. Local agencies have had some to do with it and support from a parents autism organization but I am the lead guy in what I do. Anti-cure can be very nasty and I'm much obliged to stand up for human rights and put folks in their place.

It's this kind of put down and name calling such as cure-bee which make the anti-cure perspective lose. I've seen the game of politics use peoples self-esteems as well. Bottom line is the law states folks got the right to treatment and those treatment advancements in research. I have a self-esteem like titanium and don't mind saying I support as a person with autism the right for research and cures (treatments).

I am welcoming anyone on this forum to bring the issues to me and I will balance it out a little. If you want to be a little political and want to evade rights, you own an organization that seeks to evade rights and or author articles about evading the right to cure I will go ahead and give you a piece of my mind. At the same time your right to not receive treatment(s) I'd like to see protected as a human right as well.

The problem is that children with autism would not get a say if a cure or treatment existed. It would be their parents. That doesn't seem very rightful to me. Jenny Mccarthy said that she'd rather her children have diseases than autism. Or, alternatively, prenatal abortions.

Either way, there is no say for the autistic people.

Simply not true all the time. A child has the right to be free from harm. A parent has the responsibility to seek the best interest for the child. If you determine not being able to speak, not being able to function well in certain environments and so on as simply a way of being you are right. However does a child that experiences hardship deserve to wait until he or she has the competency at an early age to determine this for him or herself for social and political reasons. Tell me specifically in what ways is a child abused, has their rights removed and or suffers as a result of treatment advancements and the treatments themselves.

I am nervous about the "cure", I have seen details of other cures for conditions of the mind such as poking knitting needles through the eye sockets into the brain for depression. I do not want people with HFA, LFA, AS, TS, alphabet soup or NTs to have to have these "cures"

Yeah I do not like needles especially around the brain area. However when I envision cure I imagine science learning how the brain works and learning how to enhance the brain (brain is mind) perhaps by stimulating area or specific sections of difficulty. A cure while not readily available may fund science to understand how the human brain works better so as to remove difficulty like sensory overload, inability to speak and to much hyper-focusing and relating repetition when chosen. I am sure there are less mad science like perspectives then mine however.

Honestly, I think the disconnect over the cure has to do with higher functioning ASD individuals feeling they have a right to be who they are.

I'm not against a cure for those that are so low functioning that they can't really enjoy their lives. The problem here is where that cutoff should be, and are we going to be comfortable providing this cure only to half the community?

I would much rather see more effective therapies developed to help individuals with ASD cope with day to day life.

This view is obvious, intuitive and easy to defend (mostly because everyone else has already come to the same conclusion). It'd be perfect if not for the tiny little issue of it not being correct.

I'm not entirely sure what you just said. lol

I disagreed with you. I also made use of sarcasm and overly-formal sentence structures, which is what I often do when feeling awkward.

I think that I would not want to be treated because... 1, It's part of my personality... 2, I like the way my brain works right now... And 3, I like being unique!
Also...
I think that Aspie's should be able to choose if they want to be cured...
But...
I only have Aspergers not full Autism, so, I am not sure what I would say about it...
It would seem like if they can't enjoy life and can't say if they wanted to be treated or not. but, I am not trying to say that they should be forced to be cured.

I figured that's what it was.

Can you clarify what you disagree with?

Please anyone else respond so I can respond all at one time tomorrow.

This part. I looked into the issue and all I've found so far is that those considered low-functioning are no less likely than anyone else to be happy how they are and want to stay that way. Any group you can name (nonspeaking, unable to work, unable to take care of basic needs, unable to drive-- whatever group you actually mean when you use the label "low-functioning"), as long as at least some of its members have some method of communication at least some of the time, some member of that group (generally MANY members of that group) does not want a cure and is happy being autistic.

I understand that you can be low functioning and happy. Those aren't really the people I was speaking of.

I know a boy (an adult now, really) that could really benefit from a cure. He'll never be able to function on his own. He's not a happy person, though that has more to do with his co-morbid conditions than his Autism.

Really, I just meant that I'm not against a cure being available.

I'm against a cure being available until we effect societal change that will keep it from being forced on people. After that, I'm all for it existing, I just don't want it and don't think most people do, actually.

I agree, there needs to be a major ethical shift in society before a cure can be safely revealed and offered. The OP is talking about forcing a cure on children that get no say... before they've grown enough for us to know their potential as they are. I'm not okay with that.

I certainly wouldn't choose a cure for myself, nor would I expect my husband to. We're happy the way we are, even with our deficits.