To Cure or Not To Cure, That Is the Question
It’s a question that provokes some very unpleasant scenes on the internet, actually.
If, hypothetically, a cure for autism existed, would you administer it?
If you would, then you are a “curebie” and you should expect a vehement response for your opinion. Neurodiversity, as the argument goes, is no less a valid principle than racial or gender diversity. Advocate a cure and you are no better than a racist, a chauvinist, or any other bigot.
Except we have to pause for a moment and ask who is proposing this particular opinion, and why?
The answer is simple; it is High Functioning autistics and aspies, advocating it because they want to be accepted for who they are, not rejected as freaks. Damned good point. They have every right to be offended and upset by the treatment they often receive. BUT ARE THEY SPEAKING FOR MY SON?
Read this carefully:
NO THEY BLOODY WELL ARE NOT.
There is a big difference – an enormous, fundamental difference between curing someone whose disability prevents them from understanding and adopting the social niceties of life, and curing someone whose disability leads them to smear shit all over their home, beat the crap out of their siblings, and cause sleep deprivation to the point of clinical insanity to their parents.
Autistic rights and the principle of neurodiversity expires when it imposes unreasonable demands upon other people who did not volunteer, and who have rights of their own that are rejected without any thought whatsoever.
When I read blogs like this, with comments like this:
Having an autistic child is tough and causes you to change your expectations of family life. Parents who adapt and accept this, and their children, are more likely to thrive.
then all I think of are the words “glib,” “patronising” and “bastard.”
Since when did the arrival of a disabled child mean that parents should renounce their own expectations of life and accept the priorities of their child? It doesn’t apply to parents of children with any of the other disabilities I teach – so why the fuck should autism be different?
Why? Because the service providers are ignorant, and because there are too many idiots like AFF and other ‘autism liberationist’ groups who think that their needs are best met by stamping underfoot the needs of their carers.
Wake up and smell the coffee, guys – you have a disability. It imposes burdens of care upon others that are only met by emotional bonds and goodwill. Stop taking the piss, otherwise you might find the goodwill has a short shelf life.
Great post. It’s good to tell the lunatics what you think of them. They’re a bunch of lying scoundrels and most of them aren’t even autistic.
Comment by John Best — August 26, 2007 @ 8:25 pm
I don’t say that they are lying – they are not. But I do disagree about what to do, hypothetically, if there was a cure.
But there isn’t a cure. Autism is not mercury poisoning, and it cannot be cured.
Comment by grumpyoldman — August 27, 2007 @ 3:36 am
Have you seen http://www.generationrescue.org ? My son has improved a lot by treating him for mercury poisoning. Lots of children have already been cured.
They are very good liars. I expose their lies and they are afraid to confront me.
Comment by John Best — August 27, 2007 @ 5:29 am
Yes, I have seen Generation Rescue – and believe that they deceiving a lot of people.
There is a clear difference between mercury poisoning (which causes, among other things, swelling, skin shedding, profuse sweating and memory loss) and autism, which has none of those things among its recognised symptoms. Furthermore, independent academic studies have shown that children with autism have less mercury, not more, in their bodies.
If you have treated your son for mercury poisoning and this has improved his condition, then I would recommend taking legal action against the medical professionals who diagnosed autism instead of acrodynia. You would either be laughed out of court, or take the doctor for millions on the grounds of his incredibly incompetent misdiagnosis.
Autism and acrodynia are as different as, for example, cancer and a heart attack – and just as easily distinguished by any competent doctor. The people who say different are trying to sell you something.
Comment by grumpyoldman — August 29, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Sorry you don’t believe Generation Rescue. They are not selling anything. They just want to share how we are helping our kids since the doctors won’t admit the truth.
What do you think caused autism to go from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 150?
Comment by John Best — September 3, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
I think that whatever is behind the increase in autism diagnosis rates, it cannot be ascribed to a single cause such as mercury.
For a start, too many cases of autism have been proven beyond doubt to have absolutely nothing to do with mercury.
All the evidence currently indicates that autism is polygenic – it is a condition with many causes that may or may not combine. There is evidence to suggest that different cases of autism may even have different causes, but produce similar effects.
However desperately you or I want to know the answer and find a cure (or at the very least a way of preventing further cases) the truth is far too complicated for scientists to decipher it… yet.
Comment by grumpyoldman — September 4, 2007 @ 3:52 pm