"I don't want to be 'cured' of autism, thanks"

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KenG
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15 Jan 2009, 8:29 am

"Discussion of prenatal testing hasn't included the people it plans to eliminate: society disables us more than autism ever could".
"I am not a savant or genius. I'm no good at maths or science, so I don't meet the criteria of the special gifts that might be lost if prenatal testing enabled parents to terminate foetuses deemed likely to develop autism. But I find it disturbing that no one yet seems to have seen fit to seek the opinion of individuals on the autistic spectrum". Anya Ustaszewski, guardian.co.uk:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ism-health

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BelindatheNobody
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15 Jan 2009, 9:20 am

I like the article.

But some of those reader's comments make me want to go pull my hair out and bang my head on something. Ugh.

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ForsakenEagle
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15 Jan 2009, 1:11 pm

People think we are "subhuman." They could not care less about what we think and how we feel.

Anemone
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15 Jan 2009, 1:43 pm

I'm glad she had the chance to make her views known. And some of the comments show just how little the general public knows about autism.

Just as a tactical note. I think this sentence:

Quote:

Rather than pursuing a "cure", or subjecting autistics to "therapies" whose goal is to make them appear and act as neuro-typical as possible

would have worked better if she'd said "conventional" instead of "neuro-typical". I don't think the term neurotypical is particularly helpful out there in the non-autistic world, since most people don't really know what it means..

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15 Jan 2009, 5:45 pm

1st of all I am a Pro-Life person, but im sure even some of the Pro-Choice people out there would be in highest agreement with me that aborting a baby because it is Autistic is plain wrong.

It really irks me that anyone would wanna do a pre-natal test for the purpose of aborting Autistic babies.

Roxas_XIII
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15 Jan 2009, 7:38 pm

KenG wrote:

Anya Ustaszewski = right. Anyone who says otherwise (including whoever those mindfu*ks were that were insulting her on her own column) can shut their ignorant pieholes.

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15 Jan 2009, 11:38 pm

KenG wrote:

I read a page of comments on that article, and quite frankly, I was disgusted.

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16 Jan 2009, 12:08 am

I normally don't read comments on editorials, but prompted by some of the responses here, I took a glance. Now I feel like moving to Britain and becoming their Unabomber.

(Not really, I don't intend to become violent. Even if confronted with one of these jackasses in person, a punch in the mouth is the worst I would do. But seriously, these people piss me off, badly.)

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Prof_Pretorius
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16 Jan 2009, 10:38 am

There is no cure. Never has been, never will be. We can however, learn coping skills. We can learn how to be independent, and capable.

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17 Jan 2009, 2:11 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

There is no cure. Never has been, never will be. We can however, learn coping skills. We can learn how to be independent, and capable.

And then the whole anti-autism/cure parade distracts us from the real issues.
The goal becomes: <normalcy>, when it should be: <quality of life>.
That's why I'm concerned with them.

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18 Jan 2009, 11:52 pm

ForsakenEagle wrote:

People think we are "subhuman." They could not care less about what we think and how we feel.

I don't think that's entirely true.
When most people here the word "autism" they don't think of those who are high functioning or those who can at least speak their mind in any way (whether it be speech or via computer). They think of those who can't function without regular specialist support and presume that just because they can't speak, or have an IQ below a certain number that if they talk about aborting foetuses because they have the 'autism gene' or finding a 'cure' they don't have to explain themselves to autistics because "they simply wont understand anyway". Sad, but true. Society revolves around the whole "what they don't know wont hurt them" theory at times (and in this case, more than just at times!). Or I should say, society just 'presumes' everything.

Ok well my rant is over and anyway, I agree with the article.

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19 Jan 2009, 9:37 am

KenG wrote:

What I found most offensive is that so many people have done no research nor knowingly spent time with those on the spectrum yet would vote in a heartbeat for a measure to eradicate future generations. These are the people who believe we are "normal" people trapped in autistic bodies and therefore we must wish to be freed.
98 percent of down's babies are aborted and most of the children would not be considered severely disabled, and in fact some down's individuals are not MR.
They are also ignoring or unaware of the recent breakthroughs that allow completely nonverbal and previously assumed severely MR people with severe autism to communicate through other means, such as assistive devices. i'm not talking about bogus "facilitated communication" but rather spontaneous communication that reveals superior intellectual skills.
Treatment for the disabling parts, and appreciation for the great characteristics. That's all we need or want, isn't it?

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19 Jan 2009, 11:11 am

I hope people start to realise that the statement (paraphrased, because a lot of people say it)

Quote:

Nobody forces you to use any new treatment for your autism.

is narrow-minded and lacking in insight. But maybe it's cultural bias.

A medical approach means other treatments will likely be too expensive in comparison. So of course many of those who need support and treatment are forced to use treatments that in long-term are more successful and cheaper than other treatments.

I imagine that in other countries, mainly the US, people must be able to pay 1 or several therapies themselves. Or that therapies are very cheap.

Where I live government pays therapies. It's too expensive to pay this for yourself mostly. 13.000 USD each year for a 2 hours a week. 39.000 USD for 6 hours a week. Credit institutes will not help you out with this usually.

Researchers will continue on their quest for a all sorts of treatment, including meds that will suppress or strip people of autistic symptoms. That's how it is for many other disorders as well.

It's claims such as the above that are a real problem, because those in need of help are facing ignorance and told to shut up.

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Eggman
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30 Jan 2009, 2:55 am

I dont want to be cured of my eye color either

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30 Jan 2009, 7:27 am

Sora wrote:

I hope people start to realise that the statement (paraphrased, because a lot of people say it)

Quote:

Nobody forces you to use any new treatment for your autism.

Not only that, but it also devalues and dehumanizes us because it institutionalizes, more than ever, the idea that autistics must inherently be inferior to NTs. Besides that, it's genocide. It is a natural human reaction to identify with those similar to oneself and to desire to look after "your own kind." I don't want to be like Lou Arrendale, left as a historical relic, a member of the last autistic generation.

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