Finding a cure...

20/5/15

I got a little bored today and did some research about ASD and I came across the sciency people trying to find a cure for autism. Now, baring in mind that no one is sure what causes autism, how can they find a cure? And quite frankly why focus on finding a cure for it when diseases like cancer are still very much at large?
I don't know if it's just me (seeing as I don't know or speak to anyone else who's children are autisc), but I don't think my boy needs a cure. He doesn't have an illness, he isn't going to die from Autism. It's just part of who he is. We don't know if he was born with it or if he developed it, or if he got it from when he had the meningitis. We don't know, and we probably never will, but it doesn't matter. We love and cherish him just the way he is. Don't get me wrong there are days when I want to give him away because he's too loud or won't stop running around or won't walk down the street without screaming and people thinking he's being kidnapped! But that's part of the joys of having children.
I, as an autism parent, don't believe that a cure is really necessary. I understand that some people will disagree and after all everyone is entitled to their opinion. I appreciate that there are varying degrees of autism and some are "worse" than others. I don't mean worse in a nasty way but I can't think of the right word to use... anyway, I understand that some have it better than others. We're quite lucky that Luke is in the moderate to severe category. But my boy is still the light of my life. The only thing I would change about him if I could would be to add a volume button somewhere!

This may sound a little crazy, but I sort of think that Autism may be the next step in our evolution. Almost every great person to have lived has been somehwere on the autism spectrum, whether is be autusm or Aspergers - Mozart, Amanda Baggs (advocate of rights for autistic people), Marty Balin (singer and songwriter), Jessica-Jane Applegate (Paralympic swimmer),Todd Hodgetts (Paralympic shot putter), James Hobley, British dancer and 2011 (Britain's Got Talent finalist), Bhumi Jensen (grandson of Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand), Christopher Knowles (American poet), 50 Tyson (rapper and autism activist), Stephen Wiltshire (British architectural artist), Temple Grandin (food animal handling systems designer and author), Courtney Love (frontwoman of Hole), Dylan Scott Pierce (wildlife illustrator). Plus Mozart, Newton and Einstein. So without them having autism, our world would be boring. We wouldn't understand maths, or have musical masterpieces. We wouldn't be able to see beautiful works of art or have music we can relate to. So yeah, I think autism may be the next step in our evolution, why would anyone want to stop that? Look how far we've come as a species, why would people want to stop all that progress? Mother nature may not have it all worked out just yet, and she needs to iron the kinks out a little bit.
All I know is that more and more people are being diagnosed with autism. Some say that's because it's easier than facing that you're child is naughty. Some say it's because doctors are too lazy to work what the issue really is and so they loosely group them all together. I'm not a medical professional, or a scientist so I really don't know. But to think that my baby is part of evolution kinda makes the bad days worth it, you know?

So, the very long answer to the original question... no, I don't think that Autism needs a cure.