Should we want to cure autism?

[Sophist]

Should we want to cure autism?

I wonder how it went...

[beware_the_sluagh]

Then, shortly after his second birthday, he started to regress." Soon they no longer had a grandchild whom they could imagine becoming a world-beater like Wright himself, but a crisis. "The doctor told us it was normal to regress when a new sibling arrives," he says, evidently still furious. "We lost nine months."

I wonder if it is the fact that the sibling arrives then, or whether regressions normally happen at that age which just happens to be the most common spacing between children.

[Charlie]

Bovell and her ex-husband, writer Nick Hornby, have a 15-year-old son, Danny, who was born autistic.

Hmm. According to what way you want to view it, most people agree that all autistics are born autistic or no-one is born autistic. It just seemed a weird statement.

[beware_the_sluagh]

Maybe they are trying to "make the point" that people are born autistic, rather than getting it from their environment (eg. vaccines). ie. They are p*ssed off at anti-vaccine activists or some other group, but need a polite way of making a point without creating a fuss. I think it could be a nice subtle way of influencing people's opinion (unless it was used too obviously or it's purpose of making a point became too widely known, then it would become a cliché, and also as incendiary as a direct attack, whereas now it's just an odd phrase).
It is an unusual phrase that I don't recall seeing before.

[Sophist]

Then, shortly after his second birthday, he started to regress." Soon they no longer had a grandchild whom they could imagine becoming a world-beater like Wright himself, but a crisis. "The doctor told us it was normal to regress when a new sibling arrives," he says, evidently still furious. "We lost nine months."

I wonder if it is the fact that the sibling arrives then, or whether regressions normally happen at that age which just happens to be the most common spacing between children.

That's the big debate. As to whether the regression occurs at that age due somehow to the timing of the vaccines or to some other neurological changes which occur at that age, such as synaptogenesis and then pruning. Or both.

Bovell and her ex-husband, writer Nick Hornby, have a 15-year-old son, Danny, who was born autistic.

Hmm. According to what way you want to view it, most people agree that all autistics are born autistic or no-one is born autistic. It just seemed a weird statement.

Well, the debate still questions whether kids who experience regression are actually autistic prior to the regression (the whole vaccine hypothesis). So the writer may have written it that way coming from that perspective.

[goddessoflubbock]

Our son never really regressed - he just failed to progress. He had all his vaccines at the proper times as he was/is a very healthy child and virtually never gets sick. From a very young age (2-4 months old) he hated certain places - the food store, the mall - anywhere with a lot of noise and lighting.

[Kaylis-Americanis]

I don't think this relates to the article, but more to the title of this thread...

But it seems like the people that usually want to "get rid" of autism are the ones that don't have/understand it, and the autistic people I have read comments from all say that we shouldn't try to get rid of it.

I find that interesting...

[Noctivagus]

But it seems like the people that usually want to "get rid" of autism are the ones that don't have/understand it, and the autistic people I have read comments from all say that we shouldn't try to get rid of it.

My reading experience is similar. However, on the internet, we almost always come into contact with the very mild end of the spectrum. I have very limited experience with the seriously Autistic and how they might feel about a 'cure'.

Likewise, those who advocate 'Curism' are also often not from the more seriously affected end of the spectrum... but mostly NT.

[beware_the_sluagh]

I think I've seen a few comments from autistics on the mild end of the spectrum who do want to be cured. There's a couple that might be said to be the middle spectrum I guess who say they don't, which is to be expected because they are out there saying "I am who I am" and that's pretty much why they're talking about autism in the first place, to show their value as who they are.
There's probably a point where whatever benefits out-weigh whatever negatives, and where neutral things - like less social life (neutral because if you don't want lots of friends it doesn't matter much anyway) become negative. And presumably at that point a person might want to be cured, but I guess it would depend on how much it would change them, and whatever other views they bring to it. And although it's nasty to want to change someone that already exists, because even if they have many problems they are still a person now, living their life and doing their stuff, I don't see too much problem in preventing hypothetical people from existing (if there aren't other major side effects, etc) - eg. some people are against abortion because you're getting rid of what would be a person, possibly a really awesome person, and they say "what if <someone you know> had been aborted?". But that person wasn't, and the hypothetical person doesn't exist, so....
But obviously there's a lot of practical problems, definitional problems, and working out if someone else's life is good is certainly problematic!

[Sophist]

I think for many autistics who DO want a cure, that it isn't necessarily the autism that is so painful for them but the depression and the anxiety that we frequently have. Depression is the killer.

[AKAConlang]

Amanda Baggs has said repeatedly that if there IS such a thing as functional level or severity, it is certainly not something we can use to predict someone's political opinion.

[renaeden]

I think for many autistics who DO want a cure, that it isn't necessarily the autism that is so painful for them but the depression and the anxiety that we frequently have. Depression is the killer.

Yes and sometimes the sensory difficulties as well.

[Sophist]

Yes, those too.