Do You Believe Autism Can Be 'Cured'?

authorities failures around autism petition- [removed by mod]

If there was a successful treatment then it should be an individual choice, but I could see many of the same issues raised with Gender transitioning, Like what age should treatment start and how much influence do the parents and therapists have, etc. As an adult, I would certainly want a treatment option available at my discretion if such treatment was available.   

Bravo!

Difficult perhaps, and everyone needs support when it's tough. But your child is who your child is. They aren't made to order for our convenience.

Yes I often think autistic people (and I'm speaking from my own exoerience) are less likely to be bound by social conventions - authenticity has always been very important to me and its something I struggle with when I don't see it in others. (Eg someone likes something because it's a trend and not because they have a true affinity with it...this isn't authentic) But then there's the double bind of masking where we are not being authentic to oursrlves and yes it causes a heck of a lot of anxiety. I don't think masking is pretending in the social sense but a built in and often unconscious mechanism to get by.

By a condition of authenticity I mean it may be a condition that makes us more willing to live as our authentic selves, live as who we really are. 

I've noticed through things like masking autistic people suffer stress and anxiety when we pretend to be someone we're not. I've read some studies showing autistic people as more reflective of standard norms and don't sacrifice their personal values to adopt the social values. We are not so unconsciously compliant. 

Basically it makes us live by our own values and not be pretenders. 

There's nothing to cure. Autism doesn't need curing it needs understanding rather than trying to get rid of it.

Isn't some of it to do with society more generally and how disabilities and differences are perceived? I think this influences how some parents feel. Although I've no doubt bringing up an autistic child is difficult for some people.

If they don't, they don't deserve to have us. I hope at least one of my grand kids turn out to be neurodivergent, but I'm going to adore them as they are NT or ND.

I am inclined to agree and am finding this "shift" within how i see autism as a whole and in myself. Because what we know about autism is only what we can observe in behaviour  ("symptoms") but this can be different amongst all autistic people. For instance, hyper focus could manifest as  "special interests" or just being able to get on with your job at work. For some people, they have a very "internal" experience of autism. I think monotropism and autistic inertia are key components. These maybe could have been seen in the past (or still are) as "disordered thinking" / "black and white thinking" when actually it's about a shifting of focus or attention. Ive explained this in quite a basic way as im still finding a way for how it all settles in my brain and my own understanding. Could you explain more what you think about a condition of authenticity? I'm not sure if I'm taking this too literally.

I hope it never is "cured". I don't want to be neurotypical.

And some parents need to get that kids do not come made to order. Our job as parents is to love the child we've got for all that they are, not to make them into something different.

Some folk just aren't grown up enough to have kids yet.

Parents wanting a cure I find so hateful, I wish they would accept us as who we are.

What is there to be cured?  This is confusing and insulting. 

:-) 

I have some good news for you. Physiologists and polyvagal theory specialists have come to the same theory I’ve had for over a decade. Since we’re autistic at all times I believed what we assumed to be symptoms are not actually part of the autism itself, for if they were they would never stop. They agree the things like anxiety and hypersensitivity is our physiology responding to the environment, so they’re now trying to figure out if they can influence our physiology in a way that doesn’t trigger things like anxiety.

They’re shifting away from the idea that autism is a set of symptoms, and moving towards we’ve been wrong about what autism is.

I don’t want a cure to autism, that’s why I feel so hated when people dangle fake cures in front of people, I see autism as part of my identity and I like it because of the diverse abilities it gives me.

I actually have my own theory concerning autism, I think it’s possibly a condition of authenticity that underlays what we assume to be symptoms. Some physiologists have come to the point that the symptoms are not part of the condition but just associated with autism that they can remove through treating the physiology, but they don’t know what the autism itself is yet. They are having a paradigm shift of how we think about autism.

JuniperFromGallifrey said:

This chap isn't "cured". He's operating at his full potential.

Spot on, I think.

No, I do not believe it can be cured, nor should it be, as the world has benefitted greatly from the presence of autistic people and of people with autistic traits. However, if someone could come up with a drug, or other therapy, that could ease my anxiety, as long as it had no adverse effects elsewhere, I would certainly take it.

Autism is a capacity for full-brain reasoning, thinking, perceiving and understanding. The hyper-full-connexions can mean we simply desire focus, but we are a resource for detail when it comes to something potentially dangerous. NT brains naturally strengthen andhyper focus pathways in the left brain 'language' compartments (lobes). They are a great design of human for keeping tribes together. Human beings need a range of talents for a whole tribe to survive. Some males who are colour-blind have rods which borrow from Infra-red light and allow them better clarity in the dark. These chaps would've been on night-watch. 

The MAIN problem is in communication and interpretation, which psychologists used to be well-trained to break through. So autistic children and adults are not getting the help they need to hone/focus their natural skills and traits in modern society. There has been a shift toward focusing on social skill OVER intellect and this is causing problems in Western cultures. I even read several studies recently which showed patients are beginning to favour emotionally-intelligent doctors over ones who are hyper-focused on the function of their problems. This seems like a disaster in my opinion. This Social-Drivenness, I fully believe has a lot to do with corporate advertising and the current model of society where corporations are mostly unaccountable and free to damage the earth and its inhabitants as they please for profit. 

Note a study on well-being: "More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends." https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjop.12181 One cannot have it both ways, though I'm skeptical as it seems ADHD might be able to have heightened connexions in their full brain including the language regions. 

The Autistic-Analytic brings unique traits which need proper training. That's the problem which needs addressing. 100 years ago, we only really took notice of the ones with extreme spike-y profiles who were much more 'eccentric' with their added needs. 

Article with Dave Asprey: Trouble Learning and growing from Sensory interference is an issue. And yes, if we mind this, we can learn and grow much better and thrive. "For me, it was eating inflammatory foods, living in a moldy house, and exposure to mercury that all together put me in the sensory blender."

But why is he more in-tune with these sensory issues? Because he's autistic. 

And yes, learning how social systems work whether it's theatre groups or marketing meetings are a good investment of time and add to our skill sets. It doesn't 'cure' or change that we're now using conscious tools, or learned skills which can even become habitual flow like playing an instrument. for Neurotypical individuals, these are actually subconscious. 

This chap isn't "cured". He's operating at his full potential.

He's still more in-tune with a natural environment and capable of spotting non human friendly elements. because he's autistic. He'll still need to keep his social skills sharpened and keep exercising the neuropathways in the lobs responsible for language. 

Most of us have to adjust our diet, because again, we are better wired for a more natural environment. Food sources are not safe for anyone, but because we're autistic, we notice the impact before it becomes cancer. 

Look into the science of Gamma Waves, the relationship with Monotropism and Sensory input. What's yet to be discovered is how the Autistic intakes information without the same filtering / defence mechanisms as Neurotypicals. That theory dates back to Lacan (1950s) and I'm not sure if it's been looked at properly yet.