Will there ever be a cure for Aspergers?

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I am 22 and a lifelong sufferer. I know no other way of living. I just want to have it as easy and natural as NT's to socialize. I am sick of living like. It is so hard to be a socially inept adult, who looks normal because people do not understand. Do you think there will ever be a cure?

Eventually - but the truth is that the research is better spent elsewhere.

As in, instead of focusing on removing the autism entirely - research is much better being put to use in terms of helping Autistics cope with the overly-social world, and take advantage of their game-breaking overpowered intellect, instead of having to change their whole identity and just becoming another "Normal".

We already have enough NTs - It's up to us to change the world in ways only we can. Don't give up on using it to your advantage yet ^_^

Genetic resequencing would be the easiest and most effective way, but until it's legalized it's out of the range of possibilities. That will take a few hundred years though.

I'm 58 and I'm still hopeful. I'm doing everything I can in the meantime ... therapy, meds for depression, etc., but I think a breakthrough as far as a treatment would make a lot of what I'm doing ultimately unnecessary. All I want is a relationship, really, and if I can someday achieve that goal I'll stop getting depressed.

I hope not. I don't suffer and I like to celebrate all of my differences, including my AS.

Chances of a "cure" non-existent! At least the type of cure you are wanting. Maybe someday some drug company will offer a drug that will mask some of the traits uh um yeah ah - symptoms of HFA or Asperger's. These drugs will come at a He## of a price in both money and side effects. In all seriousness, today, we cannot even come close to a cure for any of the single gene genetic disorders. The count of genes related to Asperger's or HFA have reached passed a dozen and still counting!

Secondly ----- What makes you think that NTs have it easy or all together!! Just look at the facts - we make up approximately 1% of all humans. Over 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Therefore, the great vast majority of divorces happen in all NT marriages. Nearly all psychologists are clueless about Asperger's and HFA -- why -- All their patients are NT! Thats right NTs are as fu##-up as we are! So what you are telling me is that you want to exchange one set of problems with another set of problems.

Take it from an old Asper that took many years learning that for every problem life gives you there is a solution. I have been married and divorced and married again - despite my extreme "social ineptitude". I have had great fun in employment - done things I have truly found interesting to the point of driving the NTs around me up the proverbial wall. More and more I have come to the conclusion that if some NT has a problem with me - its their problem not mine! After all those that know me already know that I am a Weird duck. I have found friends - most are geek or asper or other wise a half a bubble off. I have found these friends to be much more to my liking anyway,

Your happiness is something YOU make happen. It is your choice to sit and wait for a cure that will never come - or you can do what makes you happy! and Do it some more - then do it some more - look for people that have the same interests - and do what ever it is with them -- if they and you are doing the same basic thing - now you have the basis friendship or at least someone to share what you love to do with.

We are 1% of the population - while we are somewhat rare we are not so rare as to make it impossible to find others like ourselves. If you don't have any contact with others like yourself in your area - may I suggest that you use met-up web sites - if no one else has started a group in your area - start one -

I can see your fairly new so now you've been subjected to the anti-cure people.

The truth is, no one knows if a cure will be possible or not. I believe it will be. I also believe that until such a cure is developed, no one can say to what extent it will change someone, or what side effects it will have.

In my opinion, the ideal cure will be something that removes the negative aspects of aspergers while preserving the positive aspects. And yes, there are negative aspects. There are real negative aspects that no amount of tolerance will ever remove.

In the mean time, the best advice is "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference."

There are things you can do to improve, and there are things that will always be a challenge.

In terms of a cure, you will find here that the lines are pretty firmly drawn between those who would kill for a cure and those who will cure anyone who tries to cure them.

You're responsible for your own happiness. NTs also have problems, but they're not saying "geesh I wish there was a cure for my NT-ness." There are plenty of very happy people with Asperger's, so I don't think AS is the root of your problem.

We don't know that to be true or not to be true. AS is a spectrum. Put two aspies into a room and do something, one may be unphased, one may go into full melt down.

The OP's AS may be hindering a key skill that is making his life miserable, or not. We don't know. We should not assume.

Thank you for this whole post. I am very frustrated at people who don't understand how autism works and therefore thinks there can be a "cure". A "cure" for what, exactly? A cure for sensory difference? A cure for a difference in perception and deduction?

Some people get offended at the mention of this (because they assume we are talking about radical beliefs, but **I** am not actually referencing those), but this is why people compare autistics and neurotypicals to mutants and non-mutants in X-Men. Some people in X-Men don't think there is anything to cure, and some people in X-Men think the whole "being a mutant" thing is a curse-- mutant and non-mutant alike. Like in X-Men, some people are afraid of even the idea that their kids could get "the autism", while others are offended that anyone considers autism a negative thing.

I actually understand and sympathize with both sides, but my beliefs stand somewhere in-between. It really depends on the particular person as to whether or not autism is a "problem".

Remember, if neurotypicals (and even autistic people) don't understand how autism works, if we ever DID find a way to keep people from being autistic with genetic science, you can BET there will be one hell of a fight between the two groups-- and I fear they will force this so-called "cure" on us, even if they are actually suppressing what in reality could possibly be a GOOD thing. And that is exactly what Magneto warned people about in the X-Men movies. Whether or not this "cure" is a help or a hinderance, it will probably be forced, with no choice given to the people. I fear this badly.

Last edited by Otherwake on 02 Dec 2012, 2:29 am, edited 2 times in total.

The word "skill" doesn't imply that it's an inherent ability. That means you can learn skills that are not innate. We've all faced some tough times, but there's a big difference between the people who chose to learn from their obstacles and the people who instead chose to wallow.

To the people claiming that this is somehow my fault or I am "just whining", let me enlighten you.. socialization is healthy for humans and Aspergers greatly deters me from socializing especially with those my own age.

He doesn't seem to think of that..

Aspergers which is really a form of Autism is a neurological disorder. It is an illness that affects many of us. I like you also want a cure for this condition.

Will there ever be a cure for Aspergers?

No, and there never should be.

Disagree, many of us suffering from this disorder need and want a cure.