Pardon me for coming along all of a sudden without much of an introduction; I was simply wondering. I am working on a project for school about the Autistic Spectrum, but this particular question is regarding
Classical Autism. Now, I understand that there is a movement to seek a cure for Autism (Which I personally don't see happening anytime soon, much like Bipolar Disorder or Down's Syndrome can't be cured. It's un-un-doable.), but while researching Autism on sites like
this one, it mentioned that there are some not-so-ideal things about Autism , such as;
Children with autism appear to have a higher than normal risk for certain co-existing conditions, including fragile X syndrome (which causes mental retardation), tuberous sclerosis (in which tumors grow on the brain), epileptic seizures, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder. For reasons that are still unclear, about 20 to 30 percent of children with autism develop epilepsy by the time they reach adulthood. While people with schizophrenia may show some autistic-like behavior, their symptoms usually do not appear until the late teens or early adulthood. Most people with schizophrenia also have hallucinations and delusions, which are not found in autism.
Add to that the immense difficulty of social interaction, and humans are by nature social creatures, the delayed learning, some of which can be so severe the child cannot walk (Okay, that's anectodal evidence, but still.), what is so bad about at least trying to treat Autism? This isn't Asperger's Syndrome where the person is pretty much normal, this is very severe!
I just haven't found much on the other side of the Autism Treatment thing, and a lot of this site is fairl vague, so if you would be so kind as to throw in your two cents for the sake of learning, that would be very helpful. Thanks.
I personally think that a cure is out of the question, we don't need to be cured because there is nothing to be cured.
we are simply 'labeled' as different because we have a different state of mind, most of us are more intellegent than those who are supposedly 'normal' and that apparently scares them, they feel they need to get rid of us for thinking differently.
[quote=jedimom777]
On this subject, I am very curious about the happiness quotient. I have spoken to a few AS people who have said happiness is really not that important. Or that they just don't experience it the same as NTs. My question was going to be "are you Happy?" but I suppose I must consider whether happiness is even something that is valued in AS community, or is it just a transient thing easily conflated with pleasure? This is a real question... because not only is happiness a real thing for me, it is where I spend most of my time in JOY. I REALLY am looking for an answer, not to hurt or offend anyone. I am just really interested in the possibility of what types of affect might be valued more or differently than happiness.
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Jedimom deep thought - cool question - interesting. Many NT's (so I've experienced/heard/read) do not know how to answer the question "are you happy" after they have been asked it or started to think about it, it seems to lead to unhappiness - because possibly for them - that question may lead them to "comparing" themselves to others and also the "follower" instinct some have that leads them to be more easily convinced by commercials/media or other pressures from peers to aspire to what others call happiness or to equating what material things one has to how happy they must be etc.,
Are aspies less prone to wondering about happiness in the abstract? Are they less prone to caring about what others think ?
about what others have...material wise? Does this make them more prone to "actual" happiness. Is happiness another word for contentment? I have not thought, 'am I happy" it seems like a waste of a question for me. When I was aware of the topic in some circles and the difficulty in answering it, I thought wow, how self-absorbed - happiness is transient.... Am I content - yup - and if I weren't would that be a big deal? Maybe contentment leads to having no ambition (ooh I'm telling on myself - I have no ambition tis true) My son left alone, may well not have any ambition, but to be and let be- should he be let be and had he been left alone, would he have every "felt" or been aware of unhappiness?
my son said to me a couple of week ago,something like " mom, please give my life meaning" and he said it cuz he wasn't happy and he remembers not that long ago he was. HE does aspire to happiness (again) if only because he enjoyed how he felt and he compares it to his own memory and knows he doesn't feel happy now. He compares happiness against himself though, (thankfully) as he is rather egocentric at age 11, (either due to his age or aspieness)
happiness is great - unhappiness is not necesarily bad...
contentment is good - discontentment is the state of being aggrieved - and kepy too long is not good, it must be changed lest you wallow - I feel a poem or stanza coming on...
"A perverse and fretful disposition makes any state of life unhappy"
- Cicero
I had to look this one up for the wording : " Our discontent is from comparison: were better states unseen, each man would like his own. - John Norris"
Would my aspie son be better off not being exposed to this world of comparison where many are in various states of unhappiness? Obliviousness is bliss, no?
No I meant your question was deep and interesting... I hope someone comes and answers it...
we are not against treatment for autism, we against a cure for those auties.
If I could find a cure for this, I would. I'd never want to subject anyone to the way I feel.
I think we need to tease out the different meanings of the word "cure". An autistic person that cannot communicate with the outside world, and has no control over his or her destiny would most certainly jump at some sort of treatment that would allow him or her to have some tangible level of sovereignty.
That being said, I rather like who I am, and with the aid of my girlfriend and friends, I am able to make my way in the world. I do not need a magic pill.
As for co-morbid conditions, autism may indeed happen alongside such things, but that certainly does not meant that autism causes such conditions. Correlation is no an indicator of causation.
So, if there were some form of neurological treatment such as a pill or surgery that would offer a way to let persons overcome their deficits but hold on to some if not all of their assets, I cannot say that I would be against such a thing.
Still, such therapies would be positive or negative based upon their application. A child that simply cannot speak or communicate in any other way would do well with such a treatment, an Aspergerian rocket scientist would be devastated by it.
Well a good starting meaning of the word cure, would be to remove a disease or ailment from a person. that is how it is commonly interpited as.
Alright then, lets go with that. That makes it impossible to cure something that isn't a disease but a syndrome, a set of characteristics and symptoms. Symptoms can be treated; they can't be cured. Can't cure most co-morbids either, though some have very effective treatments.
I read an interesting article somewhere about the abscene of bad "isms" among autistics.
In discussions, autistics tend to listen to what a person is saying rather than how he is saying it. 99% of racists/fascists/etc have those values because they were convinced by manipulating skill and not common sense.
General autistic autoimmunity to racism, cool.
The above was a response to that
Black people have higher rates of sickle cell and only women get ovarian cancer.
Most people get the impression that there is a cure for something that isn't even a disease in the first place. That would like be trying to "cure" someone of being human.
Ok lets say for a moment there is a "cure". So what are you going to "cure". The genes? OK. Provide some miracle medication OK. BUT....
To use an anology.The brain in an aspies is wired in a very different way than an NT. It is more along the lines of a logic computer programm compared to NT's who tend to use fuzzy logic programming, which computers have heaps of trouble with.
So, what happens if you need to rewrite a computer program? You reformat it so new connections can be established. So going from hard logic to fuzzy logic, the original memory is forever lost.
So, in fact, the only thing you can "cure" is the wiring / memory of the brain itself. So, what wipe the brain clean like a hard drive and reinstall the fuzzy logic circuits aka NT.
So we now have a "cured" person with a blank memory. All and everything lost of what made that person.
As can be seen there is no "cure" only obliteration and that is extremely unethical to say the least. If not crimes against humanity.
Its the black and white thinking. ie what will go wrong, maybe that stems from being excluded and the butt of jokes. However it doesn't seem to apply when its aspie with aspie boss. (a dream job) One way to combat it is to rehearse several times a day or two beforehand so the brain gets over it. I do it, it works. And if a workplace doesn't feel right and most aspies have a feeling something isn't quite right, but don't know what it is, avoid them. The truth usually turns up.
A medication to stem the panic attacks that happen with major events is most useful. This, for me, is Prozac and Inderal (by prescription only) and allows me quite a normal life. This is the real problem.
In a severe crisis someone with aspies is the saviour as the brain goes onto autopilot and can save the day, whereas someone without would have to work out to do the same thing. So it gave some people an evolutionary advantage. The ability to be able to process multiple streams of information and pop up with an anwer is a unique advantage and something I am only vaguely aware of. I detect a hint of jealousy from a lot of NT's (sorry to say, even my wife sometimes)
One would certainly not want to wipe out an evolutionary advantage even if it is a pain in the backside at times. One never knows when it will called upon for survival.
A case in point is the delta32 gene. What is that? It confers immunity to aids. And most people carry just one copy or none, but occassionly two copies popup conferring immunity.
Why? It conferred immunity to the bubonic plague so only 30% died and not 90% died. This particular gene also confers immunity to bird flu and ebola since the receptors on the cell (protein recognition) that the invading virus uses to enter the cell is different and blocked.
Aspies, useful, you bet, annoying in social situations, yes, cure, never. But co-morbids are able to be controlled (my co-morbid is panic attacks)