Having discussed this IRL I have found there to be much disagreement in this area, what are your thoughts?
Clarification: This is a hypothetical so imagine it is one pill (or your preffered method of taking a medication) with no side effects.
Some years back, this might’ve been an alluring thought. But now, I think in the lines of “there isn’t a cure when there’s no disease”. If anything, more and more, I see new strengths to be explored in this “issue” that is autism (as well as it “sibling condition”, ADHD).
Hell no.
What would curing autism entail precisely? Are we talking about anything in particular? The way I see it autism is just a classification of people who’s brain works differently in certain ways. Changing the way your brain works would inevitably change who you are. So curing autism would meaning killing yourself.
Absolutely not. I wouldn’t be me anymore, and I’m too attached to the perks. I don’t really think that it would be possible to only get rid of the stuff that negatively impacts us.
There are times when I love what my sensitivity brings to the table, for example, when listening to music or looking at a painting, but I hate it when there’s a subwoofer on somewhere on the block. I don’t want to give up the first to not have to suffer the second. I’d love to be able to be more spontaneous, but I wouldn’t give up my pattern recognition abilities.
It’s an interesting question, though. Would we know what the expected changes would be before taking the pill?
Absolutely not. I would not even coherently be “me” anymore - autism is a pretty fundamental neurostructural difference/neurotype. It would be akin to being lobotomised.
Regardless of some of the downsides of being autistic, it is a fundamental aspect of how I experience the world, think about the world, and understand myself. And it has some advantages, too :) .
I should share my own opinion: Like everyone else who has commented here, I wouldn’t either. Autism gives me so many small abilities most NTs lack and I wouldn’t give that up willingly.
Technically speaking, I’m already taking it (ritalin and sertraline) - and it’s barely working!
It’s hard to know which parts are autism and which aren’t. I’m not even sure the question has an answer. I’d love to stop the bad parts like meltdowns and shutdowns and sensory hypersensitivity.
But which of my good parts are autism, and which are me? Would I change my interests, careers, social circles? It’s hard to know. If it’s a coin toss for each I’d probably not take the risk.
Absolutely not. I love being autistic and don’t see myself as the problem. I think that I have a lot of strengths that come from being autistic: authenticity, special interests, honesty, lack of manipulative behaviors, etc. However, I would love to be NT for maybe a week to see what these people are raving about.
20 years ago I might have, but now I’m kinda used to this confused mass of thoughts and emotions. Plus I’m lazy and don’t wanna
The only thing I truly dislike about my ASD is the difficulty with interpersonal communication. I like just about everything else.
No. I’m not interested in a cure regardless of application method, efficacy, or side-effects or lack-thereof.
I would like a medication that would reduce burnout and overstimulation.
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My brain is my autism pratically- if I were to take the pill, I would not be there anymore- I guess you get my point there
I guess for neurotypical people, a “cure” for autism would be proper social communication… If that is what we are talking about, than that would be benefitial for “socially unadaptive” autistic people, but for me and most likely other “socially adaptive” autistic people, that would be too artificial and forced. I would rather just understand social stuff, I learned many things from doing that anyways.
The fact there is no cure and even treatment is dubious is the main reason I have not bothered to get officially tested after it was suggested by another doctor that I do. What would be the point?
