Aspies For Freedom

Dear Cure Autism Now staff,

    I agree with medical ethics in general in that illnesses shuold be treated, and that diseases should be cured. But I believe your cause is wrong, in that your assumptions are mistaken. The mildest form of Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, is not a syndrome, or a dissorder, or disease or any other synonyme you can find for it in my mind. What is not a illness needs no treatment. What is not a disease needs no cure. To say otherwise is pseudo-medicine.
    I believe I have the authority to say this becasue I have the rather unflattering label of Asperger's Syndrome myself.
    Many repetitive behaviors both good and bad that have influenced history have been attributed to human nature. Human nature has been charted and explained countless times over, so it is something well understood. At least common human nature is well understood. But there are those among us whose nature is different from the common human. I am one of them with this, what I like to call an “alternate” human nature.
    Our ways of thinking are alien to them, but in all fairness their nature is equally alien to us. Here I will explain the fundamental differences in our natures.
    Common human nature is to fear the unknown. Our reaction to the unknown is fascination. When confronted with something deemed a threat, the first thought in common human nature is to destroy it. Our first thought is to want to learn as much as possible about this threat. Common human nature is to experience a seamless blend of thought and feeling. Our nature is that thoughts and feelings do not interfere with each other. We think unhindered by feeling, and we feel unhindered by thought.
    Common human nature is fit perfectly for survival in a primitive, tribal setting.
They want nothing more than to belong to your own tribeand they hate their rival tribes. They have to think this way in this setting, because all tribes fight for their very survival and will not hesitate to cause another misfortune since it means survival will become that much easier for them.
    They fear what they don’t understand, and anything that is definitively hostile should be destroyed. In a world without permanent homes, plentiful goods and creature comforts, the unknown is more likely than not something that will cause harm, and hostilities cannot be neutralized in any way except counter hostility. It is essential for survival in a world without these things.
    In the nomadic, dangerous world of the tribal, every day survival depends on being able to react as quickly as possible to any phenomenon, which requires an instant assessment of both thought and feeling. Today, survival usually depends on being able to cope with any situation, meaning you must be able to reason or the feel in a more complex way over a much longer time.
    But our world does have these things. We have plentiful food, shelter, clothing, and technology, and time. In our world, a nature designed to survive in a world without these things is at odds with reality.
    The “alternate” human nature shared by me and many others like me is perfectly suited for survival in our own modern world. The information age has blurred the lines between nations and ushered in the beginnings of globablism. If exploring the unknown ever gets us in over our heads, we can always return to our creature comforts and analyze just what went wrong. And using our technology and resources we have the luxury of studying most threats we come across.
    It is our nature that is designed to prosper and progress in the information age and beyond. But in spite of this, our label was anything but a flattering one. Society gave us the name Asperger’s Syndrome. They call us diseased and say we need to be treated.
    But I hold no blame anywhere for this. Most of us appear to be very troubled, and indeed most of us are. But it’s not our nature that troubles us, it’s our environment. We with the most unflattering label of Asperger’s Syndrome are in the vast monority. We all grow up in a world populated by people who cannot understand our nature, and thus cannot accommodate it. Likewise we grow up not being able to understand the nature of those who populate the world, and thus cannot accommodate ourselves to it. Growing up with your nature at odds with the nature of society, neither side being able to understand or acclimate to the other, causes no end of frustration and bitterness on both ends. This leads society to see us as diseased, and leads us to such levels of stress that we often require psychological help.
    We are typecast as being introverted, unaware of our own and other’s body language, uninsightful, and adverse to being touched. I am none of these things. I am better at reading people and helping them with their problems than most I know. I am an outstanding actor and public speaker. And I crave physical affection. I was lucky in that I was known to have Asperger’s since age three, and my family knew exactly how to treat me differently from any other child. It is not our nature that gives us the social deficiencies so many of us have, it’s that we are normally raised by people who treat us as if we should be like “ordinary” children. But we are not “ordinary” children, so treating us as such can only harm us.
    I do not believe for a moment that my nature is a syndrome, nor that it needs to be treated. On the contrary, I believe that if the human race is lucky, the “alternate” human nature of myself and those who share my far from flattering label will be the future of our species. I believe that if the human race is lucky, we who are made for survival in the modern world will eventually become the majority.
    If what I say is true, and I honestly believe it is, than that which is labeled Asperger’s syndrome is not a syndrome, or a disease, or any synonym of such. It is evolution. Trying to cure or to prevent evolution then will benefit no one, and will damage everyone.