What If...

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What if you can cure Autism? Imagine that today a group of scientists somewhere in the world has just figured out how to remove Autism in your life completely. Will you take the chance? However, there is one condition - once the problem is out of your life, it is possible that you might think differently or even become like another person but this time you are NT.

This is just an example, but if this was present now, will you do it or remain having Autism forever?

If a cure was found in 2050, that's great for those who can benefit then, but I would be over 70, so what would I care?

If however a cure for Asperger's was found now, I'd take the cure in a heartbeat.

Well really I was meaning now, that you are at the same age at the same time. But the only difference is that it is the year "2050".

2050? I'll most likely be dead then, if not, then around 95 years old. At that age probably the only thing that will concern me is finding the most comfortable adult diaper.

If a cure was found today my answer would be...no.

I don't want a cure- I want concession and acceptance. I want the general population to understand autistic me.

I'm not sure. Who would I be without my autism?

Since the condition is neurological, i.e the information carrying neurons in the brain, its unlikely that there ever could be a cure, for the simple reason that there is no single 'autistic' neuron, and even if there were, its likely removing it would be fatal, if not extremely degrading. Leaving aside the ethics for a minute. There is no such thing as risk free and there are three major risks to the cure that I can see.

1) seriously degrading a 'low functional' person to the point of brain death,
2) severe, life altering, damage to the brain, likely rendering a person in a vegetative state.
3) degrading a high functioning individual to complete dependency.

Even if the cure was effective, you're not going to be 'you' at the end, your personality goes part in parcel with autism. Remove it, and you become something else, someone else, and I don't mean in sense you learn the Piano or take up hiking, you will be completely different, unrecognizable even. Even if you're still breathing, the person you were before, is for all intents and purposes, dead. A cure for autism would be asking doctors to commit homicide, sometimes philosophically, others literally. And its permanent, lets get that clear, if you kill the neurons, their gone for good, so if you don't like what you've become or what you loved one has turned into.... tough.

This is why in, my mind, the cure movement is so vapid, the only reason for it is so your child can socialize, be popular, in essence. We want to live through our children and we don't care if we kill them to do it, because you know, your child is just meant to be an extension of you, right? I mean its not like their human or anthing nuts like that.

By that time I'll either be dead or 69 and at that point it wouldn't matter I'd be past my prime.

What if?

I have.

Well, I've reduced symptoms by more than 95% to the point where they are no longer clinically significant and I likely would not receive an Autism diagnosis. I'm still self aware of the traits I do have and they're fairly well manageable. Some of them benefit me quite nicely w/ the way I think, work, do things etc so they're a win for me now.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

No because I love the way I think and the way I view things I don't want to be a different person from who I am now

Here we go again...

That would make me while not a completely different person a largely different person. I am older and I would have to relearn most everything, so even with a much easier NT ability to change the task would overwhelming so I would probably be less functioning then now. And I don't find many of the core traits wrong just different, the "impairments" result of discrimination and misunderstanding by the majority. So NOOOOO.

As far as a cure for a specific areas of so called "impairment"
One that me make more of a extravert or more social ability NO WAY. Nothing wrong with preference for aloneness.
My sensory sensitivities are mild enough that it is just not worth the risk.
Would have to seriously consider one for executive function deficits. I find them much more impairing then different. Seriously consider is not the same as just agreeing. There are in any treatment or cure unexpected bad effects and a people who have negative reactions. What can go wrong in altering nuerology could be shattering.

I disagree with most here in that I do expect a cure to be found, maybe even while I am still alive (I am age 57). The brain is material and chemicals really nothing more. The creepiness associated with changing the brain is a result of religious doctrine and a lot of residue negativity from the Nazi experiments and sci fi movies where altering the brain created zombies, monsters etc. But just because it has always been that way does not guarantee it will always be that way. The combination of the money being spent on it and the desperation to get rid of Autism and technological advances is changing the traditional reluctance to vastly alter the brain. They are also the reasons a lot of the cures will be rushed and thus have very negative side effects

The community needs to get over denial about this. We need to make sure these cures and treatments are not fast tracked and those that don't want it 1. Do not have take it. 2. Are not discriminated against.

It would be much better if all the money and effort for cure were being spent on ways to have autistics and NT's communicate better (similar to what we do with the blind and deaf). A conformist world is more boring and much more non productive. But very sadly a conformist world is where we are going towered so we need to think about and plan for it.

I'd jump all over that, wouldn't care if insurance didn't cover it, wouldn't care if I had to fork over 10 grand to do it.

I'm all for loving myself and acceptance of my diagnosis but if I could get rid of it, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I don't think I could face a cure. I've only just moved on from denial and am somewhere between grief and anger.