Controversial Topic - if there was a cure for autism, would you take it?

I think about this question a lot and I think I've finally come to something of a conclusion, at least for myself. And that is, for the people who would answer yes, I feel it's important to look inside yourself and make a clear distinction - is it autism you want to be rid of, or is it the struggles of being autistic you want to be rid of? I feel that there's a difference.

Do I want to struggle to communicate with others and form lasting relationships? Of course not. Do I want to experience debilitating anxiety and self-loathing due to my condition? Of course not. But do I want to stop being autistic? Not at all. I have no idea who I'd be without it. I could be someone with very different values, that my current self would not enjoy being around. I would lose the intense joy I get from my special interests, the focused state I get into when I'm finally comfortable with where I am and what I'm doing. From how it appears to me, neurotypical people don't seem to experience these things as much if at all, and I find that terribly sad. What do neurotypicals do with their time if they're not fixated on something? I can't imagine. It sounds very boring.

But obviously we don't want to experience the negative portions of the condition. I've had many times in the past where I've said I would take a cure in a heartbeat. But then when I think about it more, the things I and others really hate about being autistic, from a social standpoint, isn't so much about autism being a problem so much as the reaction to autism being a problem. My internal shame doesn't exist because I'm autistic. It exists because of how other people treat me because I'm autistic. And doesn't that say much more about the outside world than it does me?

I don't know your stepfather so I can only guess, but from how you describe it sounds as though he and his associates believe that having autism makes you a lesser human, as opposed to being someone with unique struggles. The difference being it sounds as though he wants autism as a concept to be wiped out, which is a dangerous slippery slope into eugenics. If we as a society begin setting such a standard for "normal" as to either "correct" or "cure" children who don't meet it, what's to stop ever more demanding and impossible standards to become "the norm" and "expected", only increasing the amount of shame forced onto children considered perfectly average and unremarkable? If your stepfather, and other therapists and scientists actually cared about us and wanted to help, they'd be researching ways to lessen the struggles we face and encourage acceptance in society of our differences. Instead we're seen as defective and something to be killed off. I know this is an extreme and perhaps uncomfortable statement to make especially about a family member but views such as this are frighteningly common, and many well-meaning neurotypicals may not realise that is the sentiment they are in fact encouraging with such topics.

And that's not even getting into the moral or even physical aspects of "curing" a neurological way of being. As if there is a one-size-fits-all to us, a switch we can turn off and become "normal". It's called a spectrum disorder for a reason.

From the social side, I don't think we want a cure, we just want acceptance. Not just tolerance. True acceptance.

From the emotional and intellectual side, I don't think we want a cure, we want to be understood and not have to always apologise for being our true selves, when our true selves are harming no-one.

From the physical side, I think we have confused wanting support with our unique struggles with wanting a cure. What we really need is an inexpensive clothing line that doesn't provoke our touch sensitivities, or for non-verbal communication methods to be more normalised, or for employment opportunities to be more inclusive, and so on and so on as the case may be.

I hope this doesn't come across as too preachy - I don't mean to "soapbox" about this, it's just a subject I am deeply passionate about. Probably due to the real effect it has on every aspect of my life. And of course I don't claim to actually speak for all of us.

Though honestly on top of all I've said above,  I'm really not so sure these days that I'd like to be what is called "normal". Speaking from personal experience, people who fixate on concepts like "normal" and "correct" tend to be very judgemental and even cruel. And I'd much rather be considered a little eccentric than someone who is mean.

That's a lovely answer.

That's a lovely answer.