I came here to say this, but you said it perfectly. As an autistic person, I don’t want to be “cured”… I like the way I am and I tend to like other autistic people too. Most of us are genuine, to a fault, and I’ll take that over an intrinsic understanding of weird/unnecessary neuro-typical social games any day.
Your experience may be different, but acknowledge that others’ experiences are too. Some of us want the advantages and easier life that effective treatment would provide.
I understand that point, but I don’t think the comparison to deafness is exactly apropos… Hearing is an objectively useful ability for the survival of a species. Not having it is an objective disadvantage, whether they’ve built a community around it or not.
On the other hand, autism and neurodiversity has been a boon for humanity. Individual cases at the top end of the spectrum aren’t ideal, of course, but the vast majority of people on the spectrum are able to generally be productive members of a society that was not built with them in mind.
And more than that, they’ve often ended up becoming some of our most well-loved scientists, inventors, artists, etc.
Even if you don’t want to say that it’s a good thing for humanity, you cannot deny that it’s neutral at the very least.
Personally, I do not think there is a “cause” beyond just natural genetic diversity within a species. Which is healthy.
This is exactly my point though: What if people with autism weren’t disadvantaged in society? Then the idea of “curing” it would be meaningless.
I understand that you’re frustrated by the challenges you’ve dealt with in your life, and I acknowledge that I’m speaking from a place of privilege as someone that doesn’t have any disability. But personally I’d rather see a world where people don’t feel like they’re disadvantaged for not matching the status quo than a world where everyone is equal just because everyone is the same.
What if people with autism weren’t disadvantaged in society?
Okay, even if every person in the world magically didn’t find autistic behaviors offputting or subconsciously uncanny, and they were willing to be extremely accommodating, go out of their way to overcome communication issues, life would still be a chore
Sensory issues, executive function, and difficulties learning, are internal issues some of us face.
It’s a developmental disorder plain and simple, disability for many. It isn’t all rainbows and sunshine and “everyone is special in their own way”. But everyone seems to forget this because everyone wants to be positive and accommodating.
I came here to say this, but you said it perfectly. As an autistic person, I don’t want to be “cured”… I like the way I am and I tend to like other autistic people too. Most of us are genuine, to a fault, and I’ll take that over an intrinsic understanding of weird/unnecessary neuro-typical social games any day.
Speak for yourself.
Plenty of disabilities have anti-treatment culture because it gets conflated with identity.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/why-deaf-people-oppose-using-gene-editing-to-cure-deafness
https://blog.disabilityinfo.org/a-cure-for-down-syndrome-or-a-celebration-of-chromosomal-diversity/
Your experience may be different, but acknowledge that others’ experiences are too. Some of us want the advantages and easier life that effective treatment would provide.
I understand that point, but I don’t think the comparison to deafness is exactly apropos… Hearing is an objectively useful ability for the survival of a species. Not having it is an objective disadvantage, whether they’ve built a community around it or not.
On the other hand, autism and neurodiversity has been a boon for humanity. Individual cases at the top end of the spectrum aren’t ideal, of course, but the vast majority of people on the spectrum are able to generally be productive members of a society that was not built with them in mind.
And more than that, they’ve often ended up becoming some of our most well-loved scientists, inventors, artists, etc.
Even if you don’t want to say that it’s a good thing for humanity, you cannot deny that it’s neutral at the very least.
Personally, I do not think there is a “cause” beyond just natural genetic diversity within a species. Which is healthy.
This is exactly my point though: What if people with autism weren’t disadvantaged in society? Then the idea of “curing” it would be meaningless.
I understand that you’re frustrated by the challenges you’ve dealt with in your life, and I acknowledge that I’m speaking from a place of privilege as someone that doesn’t have any disability. But personally I’d rather see a world where people don’t feel like they’re disadvantaged for not matching the status quo than a world where everyone is equal just because everyone is the same.
Okay, even if every person in the world magically didn’t find autistic behaviors offputting or subconsciously uncanny, and they were willing to be extremely accommodating, go out of their way to overcome communication issues, life would still be a chore
Sensory issues, executive function, and difficulties learning, are internal issues some of us face.
It’s a developmental disorder plain and simple, disability for many. It isn’t all rainbows and sunshine and “everyone is special in their own way”. But everyone seems to forget this because everyone wants to be positive and accommodating.