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MENTAL HEALTH
Normality Won’t Save Me
An autistic person’s thoughts on an autism cure
When I hear people talk about a cure for autism, it’s often not something that is spoken about by autistic people. It’s spoken, by neurotypicals, and beleaguered family members of level three autistic people who have spent years of their lives being frustrated. Maybe their family member has exhibited violent tendencies. Perhaps they don’t speak or they don’t engage in any activities that neurotypicals do. Maybe this autistic person is 18 years old and still needs assistance just to be able to bathe or brush their teeth. Surely everyone would be happier if their autistic family member was able to be “cured” right?
What does a cure even mean?
We don’t know what a cure for autism would look like, but let’s imagine it. Say the cure involved surgery. What does the doctor cut away? Where are the autistic parts of us? And if you cut away the autistic parts, are you the same person? No really, have the neurotypicals even thought about this? In their desire to save themselves from frustrations and their family member from suffering would they create a neurotypical person that’s just going to behave just like their neurotypical family members or would they be creating someone new? Are they trying to end an autistic…
