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Would you change?

Sam

I have been thinking a lot since my diagnosis, and the internet seems bombarded with information about our difficulties and defecits, and I think this overshadows our qualities. We can be honest and loyal, have remarkable memory and recall,  be meticulous, logical and we can hyperfocus, as some examples. 

I realise we have all had different experiences in life, but I was just curious if you would rather be NT if given the opportunity?

  • i think it may be one of those "grass is greener" things

    ive never known any different, and just dont understand how itd be if i wasn't the way i am 

    the social crappery, ive always hated about myself. but, i just dont know any different.

    i have a general dislike of Humans, and barely even see myself as one lol

    but then, what would i change? what could i change? 

    and it just loops from there, with no answer, because again, i know no different and thus dont know how it is for others

    if you supplied me with  nukes and a billion mutated budgerigars however...

    ah, id just have even more meltdown etc as dictator of the universe, so that's a dead end too lol

  • We are who we are and there is nothing wrong with that, the sad reality is though that neurodiverse people can find many seemingly and supposedly natural things difficult and it can have a big impact on their quality of life so as of now I would absolutely change to be like everyone else. However, there is the side of me that hates uncertainty and that is a big unknown!

    I may feel differently had I received a diagnosis whilst young and had the right support to cope better. As of now awaiting a diagnosis but pretty confident I am on the spectrum. 

  • No, I wouldn't change. 

    However, if someone came up with a 'magic bullet' drug that would ease my anxiety, allow me to understand non-verbal signals, stop me from wanting to lash out in crowded situations and prevent me feeling like I want to die if I touch certain textures, then I would take it like a shot.

  • in reply to Jenny Butterfly

    That was a good read, thanks for sharing

  • Well, in spite of the difficulties I've faced, especially in the workplace, I always feel quite attached to being me.  Sort of, "What else have any of us got in this life, how else can we be, how else can we add to the world?"  And changing to the extent of becoming NT seems to me to involve a kind of suicide or significant self harm.  Have we really become cornered and damaged to that extent and, if so, why does it reflect on us, not them?  

    And I'm sick of the pathologising medical model that I think has been foisted upon us and which I like to imagine will disappear in, say, another couple of decades.  After all, why do a bunch of medics or other non autistics with vested interests get to define us and our "difficulties and deficits" without any consideration of the positives or the whole picture?  Then put in it their very big compendium of disorders? 

    Why can't we call the shots?

    autism-advantage.com/what-is-autism.html

  • If I was NT I guess I wouldn't be me and in some ways that's a good thing but in other ways I'd lose a lot of the nice things about me, like my skills, interests and so on. So no, I'd rather be how I am now.