Photo by Tara Winstead
Disclaimer: The following article is mostly my views towards this, and does not reflect the views of Substack. This is based on my experiences with autism.
So, this is going to be different than what I normally do. I have no idea how well this is going to work, but hey, it’s worth a shot, right? So, over the last few days, something has been popping up a few times during the day. So to give a bit of context here, sometime back in March, I had written something regarding autism. It was mostly my experience with it and so forth.
Fast forward to April. This is where things start to get interesting. I was browsing around on YouTube to see if I can find anything in regards to ideas. This is when I noticed that I would get 4 videos recommended to me within 30 minutes. All of them had related to autism.
Here is the twist though. The videos that were recommended to me were videos claiming how to cure autism. It’s so strange to me. Then it got me thinking as well. If I were offered a cure for autism, would I take it? Would it be worth it in the long run?
One thing that I have come to terms with is that my autism is going to be with me for the rest of my life. That is something that no matter what I do, it won’t change. It’s a part of me. I started to wonder:
What is it that people want to cure autism? Do they care that much, or are there other intentions behind it?
This is something that was in my mind for a while. I had a hard time believing that they are being genuine. One thing that I wondered is why? You want us to be ourselves, but when it comes to autism, you want to cure them?
Let me explain something here, and it involves having to go back to the past. I was picked on a lot during my school years. During the ’90s, autism was not as understood as it was now. So there were not a lot of resources on how to live with autism. The main reason I was picked on was because I was not normal like everyone else.
Normal, what exactly is normal? Like what is their definition of normal? Is being normal being free of any disabilities and having to do what everyone else is doing?
Anyways, If I were offered a cure for my autism, would I take it. My answer would be no. I’ll explain why. As strange as it may sound, I have no desire to fix it. Simply because if it wasn’t for the autism, I would have never met the people that I have. I would have never started writing. The thing is that I am prepared to answer questions such as:
Don’t you want to fit in and be normal?
Let me be honest here. I never have felt normal. I’ve felt like this when I started school back in the ’90s. I have no desire to be like everyone else at this point. It’s taken a long time for me to accept this, and I have no intention of changing this now.
You realize that there is a possibility that people will turn you away because of it, right?
This is nothing new to me. I have been dealing with this throughout my life. I used to be afraid of this at some point, but as time has gone by, I no longer have the energy to worry about this. That is their choice. If they do decide to push me away, fine. It's no loss to me.
You realize that other people with autism would take the cure, right?
I’m not them. One thing that I am going to say is that I don’t speak for every person who has autism. They have their own experiences with it, and if they decide if they want to cure their autism, that is fine. That is their choice. I’m not going to judge.
Again, this is the choice that I have made when it comes to curing my autism. I’m not expecting people to understand. The only thing that I ask is for people to respect my choice for not wanting to cure my autism.
Thanks for reading!
Also someone with autism here, and I would reject any 'cure' simply because autism isn't a bug in our human software, it isn't some aberration caused by a random mutation within the past millennia.
People with autism have always existed, we were the people who were touched by gods, whose stimming was seen as prayer, or as part of worship. Our rejection of certain foods became a sign that those foods were not to be eaten.
We became the changeling tales, of fae-like children who were different, who could be wonderful parts of a village's community. We were the people who innovated and expanded our arts and sciences through sheer hyperfixation.
The only thing that needs to be cured is the ill notion that we don't deserve to exist, that we must conform to an arbitrary definition of normality.
After all, we wouldn't exist if we weren't important and capable enough to survive through countless years of evolution.