Cure Vs. No Cure: What are your Views?

[NateSean]

Okay, let?s really get to the bare bones of this. The community has been inundated with ?cure VS no cure?. What specifically is your mentality behind the idea of a cure? FYI, I made this a blog post originally because I was afraid there might be a ton of threads like this all ready. And I am not setting out to put anyone down for their beliefs or reasoning so I would ask any and all participants in the discussion to be respectful of one another's views.

Here is the rundown of my basic feelings.
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Will having a pill or some medical treatment automatically make you more socially adept? Will it erase the misconceptions people have about you or make you so radically different that it will be like a magic reset button?

See, in my mind, this idea of a "cure" for Asperger's is like the idea that wearing a certain pair of sneakers or listening to a certain CD will suddenly make you "cool" in the eyes of the general population.

In my mind, a cure is also something for an illness or a condition. Asperger's is not the same thing as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder as the symptoms are not so black and white and vary from person to person. So assuming that Asperger's is something that could be "cured", then the cure would have to encompass every possible variation of the diagnosis.

I don?t feel ?ill? and I don?t like referring to Asperger?s as a disorder as the only disorder in my life is generally caused by other people. I?ve always been happy with who I am and therefore see no need for a cure.

Let me clarify also that Asperger?s and Autism are two different things. A woman I know had a brother with severe autism and he was once admitted to the hospital with severe pain. He couldn?t communicate what was wrong and very nearly died of a burst appendix if it hadn?t been for a persistent team of doctors.

In this instance and instances like it I could understand that this severity of autism could benefit from some kind of preventative treatment or cure.

Discuss.

 

[2010Dolby]

Let me just start off by saying that I would never want to take any cure. The rewards of being an Aspie are much bigger then the troubles it can carry.

But if a full cure was developed I think it would completely alter social behaviors and other things to the level of NTs. Now this might get confusing because it's confusing the hell out of me haha. If an Aspie took a full cure for the Asperger's it would cause them to be an NT, right? Well as we grow up we develope a personality partly based on our pre-existing genetics. Asperger's is (I think) genetic so we grow up adapting and molding ourselves around the AS. Now if the AS was taken away it would be pretty destructive to who we are and what we do.

Ok, let me try to put this into an understandable thought instead of that jumbled mess haha.

Imagine a vine growing around a tree. The tree is the base of who we are, including Asperger's Syndrome. The vine is who we've become through the years of learning and living. A cure would remove part of that tree, leaving the vine to collapse without that foundation it had been growing on.

 

[King_Oni]

I responded on your blog, but I'll put my response up here to add to the discussion here;

I always feel that even if you have a cure for it, it's like giving someone "a new life"... and I'm not really sure if it would work that way.

My therapist told me that therapy would work halfway for me in regards to being less "aspie", but with that it would be advised to cut all bonds with interests I have. A lot of my interests compliment my "aspieness" enough to make me enjoy those, and probably also to make me not really want to go out and such, which therapy might require. Add in that a lot of things I do now work well cause it's "skills" I have. So, I'd have to abandon skills that feel "natural" and do things against my nature, on top of therapy to make me more social for instance.

Also, what if it's within a persons character to not be social, that has nothing to do with being on the spectrum. You'd even have to force that out. And that's a totally different part than a pill to "cure" someone. Some people are not on any spectrum, but still don't like people in general, are more drawn to animals or even lack mental capability to speak coherently. And let's not forget comorbid disorders.

However, and this is what my therapist said. If... I had a diagnosis over 15 years ago, I could've had better guidance, counseling, my parents would've had a better heads up in regards to what to do and what not to do, and I might have developed my skills in a different way. That probably would've made me try less courses in college and I'd probably have my situation set up a lot earlier than I have now. But it wouldn't be a lot different.

But at this age, it's hard to reset, "relearn" a new life, abandon all social contacts you might have going on (for one, I'm dating a girl who's borderlining the spectrum as well, works out fine for us like this) and on top of that eventually get a degree and work. That process will take years to get straightened out, even if you don't calculate the the factor of "intelectual capabilities" someone might not even posses to be functioning. And that's an amount of time they cannot warrant in this day and age for people to be under guidance 24/7.

 

[Needtobreathe]

No way! God made me with aspergers for a reason. Just don't know what reason yet.

 

[Gomendosi]

For me a cure is a way to spend more money on research that could be used to eradicate some disease or something.
To stamp out Aspergers is like teachers in the old days trying to stop kids being left handed, it shouldn’t be done just because the majority thinks it’s an aberration.
I mean, that’s like saying lets find a cure for homosexuality (no offense), what I am saying there is that to cure something you are in yourself is not like curing something you caught from someone else, like Aspergers is some sort of communicable disease.
Anyway there is a cure, it’s called willpower and it’s delivered by acceptance, we've just got to work at being in society and society has to work at integrating us. Of course, it doesn’t work like that though does it, because even if we try we are still just out there on the fringe?
Personally, I would enjoy meeting more aspies in real life, I love the way I look at things despite the confusion to most when I try to explain why I’ve been studying a bug for fifteen minutes or staring at a sunbeam watching dust motes dance. People just don’t get stuff in a 'that’s fascinating' way anymore, the only things that peak most peoples interest is what the news told them was happening, they are so busy trying to be busy they miss the frivolous little things that enrich our lives for free. Maybe this insulting cure should be made the other way around, let them see things in the same way we do for once.

 

[Arashi222]

I agree no cure...coping skills yes. There is nothing to change only things to learn. we are who we are accept us as we are.