3 ms·

I have autism myself and so do both my kids, I would love it if there was some way to lessen it. It's a great hindrance for me, all the time I want to do things

I have autism myself and so do both my kids, I would love it if there was some way to lessen it. It's a great hindrance for me, all the time I want to do things that I feel I should be able to do, but then run into various walls. My children (15 and 10) are learning about themselves but they haven't found an advantage of their autism yet. But, we function well enough, I can hold down jobs and so will they, it's a set of things we're not good at but we can deal. The severe cases I know, I have never heard them utter a word, or leave the house on their own. They live in a world inside their heads. I really can't see what they have as the same as what I have.

ModernMech 2y ago
Thank you for sharing your experience, I agree there are so many walls! I guess for me, I can't even perceive of a state of mind which would not see the walls. And I worry... what would change about me if I could see through the walls? Would I still be me? Because I like me, so I wonder what would happen. My great fear when I hear talks of a "cure" is that it will be used as an excuse to cleanse ahem I mean "cure" people like me and you and your sons. So you can understand why I don't want to go down that road. It's been done before. Although I can't conceive of a world where I can see through the walls, I can picture a world where the walls are not there, and that's what I advocate for. > I have never heard them utter a word, or leave the house on their own. They live in a world inside their heads. I really can't see what they have as the same as what I have. It's true, we often wonder what those people would want. People have opinions as to whether they should have existed at all in the first place. I have a friend with Down's syndrome, and she's awesome, and I'm not sure what she would say in this situation, but I know as far as I'm concerned I don't want to live in a world where she doesn't exist exactly the way she is. So as far as autistic people who cannot advocate for themselves, I'm not going to make the decision for them, and I don't think anyone else should either.

ModernMech 2y ago

Thank you for sharing your experience, I agree there are so many walls! I guess for me, I can't even perceive of a state of mind which would not see the walls. And I worry... what would change about me if I could see through the walls? Would I still be me? Because I like me, so I wonder what would happen. My great fear when I hear talks of a "cure" is that it will be used as an excuse to cleanse ahem I mean "cure" people like me and you and your sons. So you can understand why I don't want to go down that road. It's been done before. Although I can't conceive of a world where I can see through the walls, I can picture a world where the walls are not there, and that's what I advocate for. > I have never heard them utter a word, or leave the house on their own. They live in a world inside their heads. I really can't see what they have as the same as what I have. It's true, we often wonder what those people would want. People have opinions as to whether they should have existed at all in the first place. I have a friend with Down's syndrome, and she's awesome, and I'm not sure what she would say in this situation, but I know as far as I'm concerned I don't want to live in a world where she doesn't exist exactly the way she is. So as far as autistic people who cannot advocate for themselves, I'm not going to make the decision for them, and I don't think anyone else should either.