I just want to comment on the "curing autism" thing. I'm aware that there are high-functioning (not quite sure if this is the proper term) autistic individuals, but TBH I've never met one before.*
My brother's thirteen, but can't speak in full sentences, still babbles nonsense words and can't communicate clearly (either written or non-verbal or verbal), pretty much wouldn't know how to take care of himself if left alone, and has violent tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. All the other students I've met at his clinic/school are the same.
So, yes, I agree that people who have autism aren't diseased non-entities, but I can see why there are families who're looking or hoping for a cure.
*EDIT: I hope the comment didn't come across as offensive. I poked around the links you gave and just finished reading the one about functioning labels. "Severity" doesn't seem like the right word either.
Also, I'll be honest and clarify that I'm not quite sure where I stand with regards to a "cure" for autism. For those individuals who can't communicate, who have stims that end up hurting them, or who are end up accidentally hurting others, I can understand where their families are coming from.
IDK if you read/saw it, but in an entry a while back, I wrote about a tantrum that my brother threw. We didn't know why he suddenly got angry, but he started throwing around things in his room, pinching and kicking and biting my parents and sisters and I when we tried to calm him down.
He couldn't tell us why he was upset and we couldn't figure it out and it was an emotionally draining two hours before he finally calmed down. So I'm not going to lie and say I didn't wish that there was some sort of way that we could help him.
"Cure" isn't the right word, because autism is not some disease to be horrified of, but what the word represents is what I'm talking about.
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I'm aware that there are high-functioning (not quite sure if this is the proper term) autistic individuals, but TBH I've never met one before.*My brother's thirteen, but can't speak in full sentences, still babbles nonsense words and can't communicate clearly (either written or non-verbal or verbal), pretty much wouldn't know how to take care of himself if left alone, and has violent tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. All the other students I've met at his clinic/school are the same.
So, yes, I agree that people who have autism aren't diseased non-entities, but I can see why there are families who're looking or hoping for a cure.
*EDIT: I hope the comment didn't come across as offensive. I poked around the links you gave and just finished reading the one about functioning labels. "Severity" doesn't seem like the right word either.
Also, I'll be honest and clarify that I'm not quite sure where I stand with regards to a "cure" for autism. For those individuals who can't communicate, who have stims that end up hurting them, or who are end up accidentally hurting others, I can understand where their families are coming from.
IDK if you read/saw it, but in an entry a while back, I wrote about a tantrum that my brother threw. We didn't know why he suddenly got angry, but he started throwing around things in his room, pinching and kicking and biting my parents and sisters and I when we tried to calm him down.
He couldn't tell us why he was upset and we couldn't figure it out and it was an emotionally draining two hours before he finally calmed down. So I'm not going to lie and say I didn't wish that there was some sort of way that we could help him.
"Cure" isn't the right word, because autism is not some disease to be horrified of, but what the word represents is what I'm talking about.