should autism be cured?

[Llamalandia]

But if Autism was cured than every online game/mmorpg and most internet forums (including this one and this game) would lose about 75% of it's population

Big gaming companies are preventing us from finding a cure to autism.

Like casinos? or do you mean videogames/computer games? In either case I think not.

[Sun Wukong]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it probably would not be possible to cure autism once it is developed. Any cure would have to be prenatal.

And it's not like you're going to be able to tell how severe someone's autism is likely to be when they're a zygote.

[Llamalandia]

A few people do grow out of Autism, that is true. But the almost always do it when their young.
As for I wouldn't change too much. Well here's some ways I would change,
1. I would go from being anti-social and being alone to liking to be with people.
2. Like above, I would go from spending free time reading, on here, and other alone things I would spend it with friends.
3. The way I perceive the world would be different, as Autistics senses and perception are deferent.
4. Since the way I perceive would be deferent, its reasonable to assume my memories would also be deferent.
5. My grades would probably drop.
6. Most of my personality is affected by Autism and would change at least a little.
7. My logic and reasoning would go down, while my social skills would go up.
8. I would show more emotion then I do now.
9. My routine would change.
10. Several of my physical attributes would change, such as how I walk, sleep, routine, etc.
11. Lots and lots and lots more.
You see, I would change a lot. Enough that in my opinion I wouldn't be the same person.

Doesn't that depend specifically on the cure though? I mean if there's a cure for autism that also causes paralysis, well no one would take it nor would we make them, likewise if the list of side effects for the hypothetical autism cure are as long as you suggest then clearly it's not a very good cure is it.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Don't other mental disorders, which are currently treatable, affect the way people's brains work and how they make sense of the world? Curing other disorders can sometimes have dramatic effects, but it doesn't erase everything a person was before they were treated. How would curing autism be "creating an entirely new person" any more than curing other disorders? Curing a schizophrenic probably changes their perception of the world a lot more than curing an autistic would, yet we still do what we can to cure schizophrenics.

Mind you, I don't think every case of autism needs to be cured. I also don't think every case of ADHD, bipolar, etc. needs to be cured. A lot of people have untreated mental disorders that they just live with, sometimes more successfully than others, but that doesn't mean nobody should be allowed to get treatment for their kids or that it's "murder" to put someone on meds.

Well so long as the autistics are living sucessfully with them and don't want to be cured and aren't a burden upon society then fine let em make the choice. However if they aren't sucessful etc etc then it becomes clear that they need to be cured for their own sake and for society at large.

You keep bringing up this "burden to society" bit and I wonder, what makes you think ASD people can be a burden or can become a burden to society? For what I can gather, the treatment of autism is pretty much cost managed by the parents and caretakers of low and high functioning autistic people. As in, it seems they receive minimal support from the gov't.

[Izandai]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it probably would not be possible to cure autism once it is developed. Any cure would have to be prenatal.

What evidence do you have to support this claim?

[Llamalandia]

Well so long as the autistics are living sucessfully with them and don't want to be cured and aren't a burden upon society then fine let em make the choice. However if they aren't sucessful etc etc then it becomes clear that they need to be cured for their own sake and for society at large.

You keep bringing up this "burden to society" bit and I wonder, what makes you think ASD people can be a burden or can become a burden to society? For what I can gather, the treatment of autism is pretty much cost managed by the parents and caretakers of low and high functioning autistic people. As in, it seems they receive minimal support from the gov't.

Special edu cost a crap load. It's nearly like an 80%+ increase in cost vs non-special edu. Obviously I realize there are plenty of high and mid level functioning autistics who don't need it and are perfectly capable contributing members of society. HTey should be allowed to choose if they want the cure or not, however when we get lower down the spectrum it starts to incure costs both on the schools and the more over parents as well. Clearly in that case the cure becomes effecctively mandatory barring special circumstances.

[The Star Corporation]

I have Asbergers and I am fine with it.

This.
Also, I don't think of it as an illness or disease.
Slightly odd to think of it in such a manner, if you ask me, but whatever.

I agree, with all of that as I too have Asperger's.

[Sun Wukong]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it probably would not be possible to cure autism once it is developed. Any cure would have to be prenatal.

What evidence do you have to support this claim?

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

You keep bringing up this "burden to society" bit and I wonder, what makes you think ASD people can be a burden or can become a burden to society? For what I can gather, the treatment of autism is pretty much cost managed by the parents and caretakers of low and high functioning autistic people. As in, it seems they receive minimal support from the gov't.

Special edu cost a crap load. It's nearly like an 80%+ increase in cost vs non-special edu. Obviously I realize there are plenty of high and mid level functioning autistics who don't need it and are perfectly capable contributing members of society. HTey should be allowed to choose if they want the cure or not, however when we get lower down the spectrum it starts to incure costs both on the schools and the more over parents as well. Clearly in that case the cure becomes effecctively mandatory barring special circumstances.

Special education is a federally funded program that doesn't just benefit any ASD children using it at school.

[The Star Corporation]

You keep bringing up this "burden to society" bit and I wonder, what makes you think ASD people can be a burden or can become a burden to society? For what I can gather, the treatment of autism is pretty much cost managed by the parents and caretakers of low and high functioning autistic people. As in, it seems they receive minimal support from the gov't.

Special edu cost a crap load. It's nearly like an 80%+ increase in cost vs non-special edu. Obviously I realize there are plenty of high and mid level functioning autistics who don't need it and are perfectly capable contributing members of society. HTey should be allowed to choose if they want the cure or not, however when we get lower down the spectrum it starts to incure costs both on the schools and the more over parents as well. Clearly in that case the cure becomes effecctively mandatory barring special circumstances.

Actually, with high level autistics [such as with Asperger's] they are so different in thinking that they require special education otherwise they don't do well, et cetera.

We have to be taught differently up until High School or we don't function well at all in normal life, why do you think Special Education exists in the first place if it costs so much even when America is in terrible debt or it's a random third/second world country?

[The Star Corporation]

What evidence do you have to support this claim?

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Yuppers, it's kind of like cancer... the cure is either destroyed or the cure has "difficulty" with ethics.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

What evidence do you have to support this claim?

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Would rewiring be possible?

[Condunum]

What evidence do you have to support this claim?

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Well... That's not necessarily true... It's a hell of a lot harder with age, but the brain is a forever changing, always developing organ. It just slows a hell of a lot past the formative years.

[Sun Wukong]

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Would rewiring be possible?

Maybe with advanced nano-robots or something?

In the realm of likely near-future medical technology,no.

Besides which, "rewiring" someone's brain would probably be extremely unethical.

[The Star Corporation]

A few people do grow out of Autism, that is true. But the almost always do it when their young.
As for I wouldn't change too much. Well here's some ways I would change,
1. I would go from being anti-social and being alone to liking to be with people.
2. Like above, I would go from spending free time reading, on here, and other alone things I would spend it with friends.
3. The way I perceive the world would be different, as Autistics senses and perception are deferent.
4. Since the way I perceive would be deferent, its reasonable to assume my memories would also be deferent.
5. My grades would probably drop.
6. Most of my personality is affected by Autism and would change at least a little.
7. My logic and reasoning would go down, while my social skills would go up.
8. I would show more emotion then I do now.
9. My routine would change.
10. Several of my physical attributes would change, such as how I walk, sleep, routine, etc.
11. Lots and lots and lots more.
You see, I would change a lot. Enough that in my opinion I wouldn't be the same person.

Doesn't that depend specifically on the cure though? I mean if there's a cure for autism that also causes paralysis, well no one would take it nor would we make them, likewise if the list of side effects for the hypothetical autism cure are as long as you suggest then clearly it's not a very good cure is it.

We now describe Asperger's and everything else autistic in, like, one or two different categories with no real difference [not quite sure why, really, that's an awful idea] so people would probably use the same cure for everything which would have its own issues[most of them being AWFUL].

Now, a cure for each individual type of autism would take way longer but we would likely avoid accidentally killing off an ever increasing portion of the world.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Would rewiring be possible?

Maybe with advanced nano-robots or something?

In the realm of likely near-future medical technology,no.

Besides which, "rewiring" someone's brain would probably be extremely unethical.

What about developing a treatment that causes the brain to naturally change? I know it might be a slow process once a point in life is reached, but do you think something like that could be developed and be ethically medical.

[The Star Corporation]

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Well... That's not necessarily true... It's a hell of a lot harder with age, but the brain is a forever changing, always developing organ. It just slows a hell of a lot past the formative years.

Dude, you would have to start from what they call "the ground up". It will likely take a few millenia to get to the stage where we have the tech, and a few more centuries to get to the stage where it's at human testing.

:/

I'm not too sure that would help since humanity might be dead by then due to the way the world is being led at this point [seriously, SOMEONE needs to fix that and not with a one world government... that'd just be creepy]... though if we're still alive, as a species, maybe we can use this technology on our politicians.

[The Star Corporation]

Maybe with advanced nano-robots or something?

In the realm of likely near-future medical technology,no.

Besides which, "rewiring" someone's brain would probably be extremely unethical.

What about developing a treatment that causes the brain to naturally change? I know it might be a slow process once a point in life is reached, but do you think something like that could be developed and be ethically medical.

It's still "rewiring", it's not medically ethical, and to do so would be near impossible... it also would likely involve modifying the human genome in which case we end up with the modern day Frankenstein's Monster or we become Prometheus and piss of the gods... that or zombie apocalypse, a super human, a TOTAL psycho, et cetera.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

What about developing a treatment that causes the brain to naturally change? I know it might be a slow process once a point in life is reached, but do you think something like that could be developed and be ethically medical.

It's still "rewiring", it's not medically ethical, and to do so would be near impossible.

Our brains do experience natural changes, like the rest of our body.

[Limborg]

1.Autism cannot be cured.
2.Austism isn't a lifestyle in any possible way
3.There's nothing wrong with having autism, its not a desease.

[Sun Wukong]

Because autism does not appear to be chemical, and relates to the development of the brain.

And you can't re-develop a brain.

Well... That's not necessarily true... It's a hell of a lot harder with age, but the brain is a forever changing, always developing organ. It just slows a hell of a lot past the formative years.

If you can figure out a way to get the brain to reform to the extent necessary for this, you've just cured a thousand diseases. So absolutely this is worth pursuing.

But in terms of realism: we can't do this with any medical science we're likely to have in the near future.

[The Star Corporation]

It's still "rewiring", it's not medically ethical, and to do so would be near impossible.

Our brains do experience natural changes, like the rest of our body.

Yes, but inducing those would not be natural. That's the point.

What about developing a treatment that causes the brain to naturally change? I know it might be a slow process once a point in life is reached, but do you think something like that could be developed and be ethically medical.

It's still "rewiring", it's not medically ethical, and to do so would be near impossible... it also would likely involve modifying the human genome in which case we end up with the modern day Frankenstein's Monster or we become Prometheus and piss of the gods... that or zombie apocalypse, a super human, a TOTAL psycho, et cetera.

Here's my edited post

[MERIZoC]

1.Autism cannot be cured.
2.Austism isn't a lifestyle in any possible way
3.There's nothing wrong with having autism, its not a desease.

It's a hypothetical situation.

[Spagatine states of Potato]

People with High functioning Autism ( Asbergers Syndrome) are fine.

People with Low functioning Autism must be Cured!

Well put.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Our brains do experience natural changes, like the rest of our body.

Yes, but inducing those would not be natural. That's the point.

It's still "rewiring", it's not medically ethical, and to do so would be near impossible... it also would likely involve modifying the human genome in which case we end up with the modern day Frankenstein's Monster or we become Prometheus and piss of the gods... that or zombie apocalypse, a super human, a TOTAL psycho, et cetera.

Here's my edited post

That's in the realm of sci-fi, but, I get the point.