2 issues:
1 - If you take it a few times and it leaves any minor lasting effects (which is quite likely if it alters enough neural pathways to make an autistic brain act NT) then these lasting effects will be cumulative. This is why I asked if anyone can cite a medical journal so I can read up on the mechanism of action and study this more.
2 - Every person who willingly takes any drug is supporting the manufacturers/inventors of that drug further and funding further development of it. Don't kid yourself into thinking that such a drug will remain forever optional, it WILL be forced onto people, children at first (if it gets approved for usage in minors, otherwise it'll have lesser uptake but still happen), eventually it could very well be a case of "take your autism meds or we cut off all services and support and/or put you in an institution".
1: This is a good point, abilt unproven and theoretical.
2:...Don't get me wrong, I never said i would buy it, but if someone gave it to me to test it out I would like to see what it was like.
But I'd be damned if they tried to force it on people, I would rather die then allow my freedom to be who I am to be comprimised. If that's the case then i would take to streets like so many others would, that sort of thing i would not tolerate. I would fight against that with every fiber of my being. Don't get me wrong, it'd be nice to see how an NT thinks, but i would not if it meant the Autistic community being crippled, and destroyed.
If someone paid for it before they gave it to me, then taking it would make no difference at all, would it?
Don't accuse me, or others of supporting the destruction of Autisim. We love who we are, and we love our community.
Of course I would explicitly state the fact that I didn't want them to buy anymore, and that I was not looking for a cure but an understanding. It's not like it could ever happen anyway, because few people even know I'm autistic I'm talking theoretically.
Maybe you think to lowly on NT's, I'm not stupid enough to take it if i could see malicious intent behind it, only if i knew it was just for understanding.
I didn't know that alcohol could cure autism. I don't think it ever helped me!!
Heh, funny NTs...
When I am home with my dogs, I enjoy who I am - I like myself! When I am at work, then who I am gives me incredible anxiety.
All this pill appears to be doing is fulfilling some NTs stereotype of autism. I was fantasizing walking into a group of coworkers and saying something that made sense in the moment to them. Maybe something casual that had absolutely no relavence to work. Not being terrified that an innocent remark on my part would offend someone.
Its the loneliness of it. I can smugly tell myself that, but everyone is ignoring me because I am a poor conversationalist at the least or more likely because I am wierd. It is the rare NT who is thinking about how my strengths over balance my weeknesses.
You are very fortunate in that self-belief Gareth. It took me a long time to get to that level, and a lot of depressive episodes. There are lots of us out there who never get to that stage...
thing is, i personally dont think people have thought through the concequences of this; and the thing is, its "people who would try it", not keep taking it. and its not over 50%, there is one vote in it thus far.
I voted for trying it, but there's meds already out there for social anxiety, etc, but I have only toyed with the idea of taking them - never have, probably never will. I am only a problem when I leave my four walls.