Friday, April 13, 2012

Letter To Those Offended By Curing Autism

To all of you who are diagnosed with an ASD and feel that a "cure" is demeaning, please don't feel that way. It sounds like you are independent and in a good place about your own identity. That is fantastic, and I don't think ANYONE who talks about cures, etc would ever want to take away the beautiful neurodiversity that you bring to this world.
But can you step back for a minute and put yourself into a parents shoes, whose child can't sleep, is having seizures, who screams at the touch of a blanket, and see that when they talk about "cures" they are talking about finding a way to make an independent life possible for their child? They want to take away the severe anxiety that keeps that beautiful child from experiencing the circus. Or even just a supermarket.

As parents and as adults with autism, we really have to stop circling this mountain of division and learn to embrace both ends of the spectrum.

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