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If there was a cure for autism...

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Vermilion:
After reading many online articles/blogs etc and more books than I can count the subject has cropped up. Providing there were no risks, if there was a cure for autism would I take the tablets/have surgery/whatever?

Personally I think I would. I feel that being autistic has made living a fulfilling life as I want to live it impossible. It has messed up relationships, jobs and so many more things that I don't wish to post here. If I could cure this and no longer have to deal with this crap, I would do it.

On the other side of the debate are those who view autism almost as a gift or at least an integral part of their identity that they love having. This is baffling to me because being autistic is, at least for me, exhausting, confusing, frustrating, distressing and can be downright frightening when having sensory overload/meltdowns etc and knowing that there's no cure makes me feel truly hopeless at times.

I'm not sure why I'm posting this really, it's just something that's been on my mind lately. I figured that maybe someone here can understand a little since there seems to be quite a few people here with autism diagnoses. I suppose this is little more than a rant that I just needed to type out I guess.

Gerard:
'Cure' leaves a bad taste in the mouth, imo. I associate it with propaganda from Autism Speaks et al. And there's an argument that certain things may not have been achieved/invented, etc, without people with AS/ASD.

I do get what you mean, though. AS is a monster.

Vermilion:
I'd say that the real question is whether the person is happy or not. I'm not saying the autism is always a bad thing, I feel that the AS propaganda is bordering on eugenics which is an appalling notion and potentially harmful. I personally have had a truly awful time with my ASD but everyone is different of course and some are perfectly content with things. For me though, I would like the autism part of my brain to f*** off and if someone could just cut that part of my brain away then I'd probably do so. ASD is the worst type of monster; one that is everywhere you go, manipulates thoughts, wreaks havoc in life and it will always be there and all we can do is learn to coexist with it and that is just horrible to me.

icicle:
I wish there was a cure for how badly some neurotypicals treat people with Autism; they can be so rejecting and criticising when people with Autism don't behave how neurotypicals expect people to. People need to be more tolerant of difference. There's a lot of bullying out there.

Vermilion:
Yes, that would be very helpful too. There's intolerance throughout society in general be it towards autism, down syndrome, disabilities etc, not to mention things like race, sexualities etc and if we could somehow eradicate these things the world would indeed be a better place for all.

That said, I also can't blame society for everything that's wrong in my life; I cannot blame it for my social skills for example nor could I blame it for my lack of understanding of the world in general. If most people enjoy music being played then I shouldn't expect it to be turned off for my sake, others may enjoy sparkly flashing lights at Xmas and shouldn't turn it off for my sake. In this sense life would be better without autism for me. Should the rest of society be expected to work around the minority? I've often been told that no, it shouldn't be, that I should just come to terms with the way society is.

Of course, I'm having a really difficult time lately (as posted in the full member room) so perhaps my thinking is skewed on this subject right now but I am really struggling to see anything that makes me happy to be on the spectrum. Thinking about it, in some ways it's harder on the 'high functioning'/Asperger's part of the spectrum because it's not severe and therefore we should be able to get on with it(or so others believe) and many (I have family members with this view) believe that it isn't a disorder at all.

As things stand I really do feel like I don't belong on this planet and if there was something that could change that I wouldn't turn it down.

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