Jul 1 2012: As a fellow "sufferer" of this condition of high functioning autism, I can only say I share your point of view here.
It is a tough question.
A question that rears its head -and has done so throughout my life- with irregular frequency. I'll ponder it quite intensely for a period, and then pay it no heed at all for months on end. My answer to it shifting all the while between seeing it as one of the most critical questions of life I could ask myself while living with this condition and thinking it quite an irrelevant, even silly question.
Wether that last opinion comes to mind because I find it
- silly to question what is essentially just me, functioning the way I do, and pretty much always will, or
- silly because it stands beyond any doubt that living with this condition has caused me tremendous setbacks in life, and could be considered a handicap as much as any other without any stretch of imagination
varies likewise from one ponderance to the next.
But then, I think our condition mostly becomes a handicap through expectations we -and society- have of ourselves. Through the situations we put ourselves in, or find ourselves put in. While likewise, through the same factors, it can just as easily be considered a benefit. Allow for excelling where the psychotypical person would have a tougher time.
Hence the reason I lean toward thinking of our condition more as a variant in psychic functioning, and have always balked harshly at anyone calling my condition an illness of any sort. At labelling the condition a handicap in and of itself.
Would I take a pill to "cure" me of my "condition"? As likely as I would take one to cure me of myself. Would I like a more selectively functioning one, just "curing" me of my shortcomings in a more social environment? Sure. But I'm inclined to think anyone would say the same about an area they feel themselves shorted in.
But then, a cloud comes along, telling me "Stop thinking it pretty. You're deficient."
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A comment on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
It is a tough question.
A question that rears its head -and has done so throughout my life- with irregular frequency. I'll ponder it quite intensely for a period, and then pay it no heed at all for months on end. My answer to it shifting all the while between seeing it as one of the most critical questions of life I could ask myself while living with this condition and thinking it quite an irrelevant, even silly question.
Wether that last opinion comes to mind because I find it
- silly to question what is essentially just me, functioning the way I do, and pretty much always will, or
- silly because it stands beyond any doubt that living with this condition has caused me tremendous setbacks in life, and could be considered a handicap as much as any other without any stretch of imagination
varies likewise from one ponderance to the next.
But then, I think our condition mostly becomes a handicap through expectations we -and society- have of ourselves. Through the situations we put ourselves in, or find ourselves put in. While likewise, through the same factors, it can just as easily be considered a benefit. Allow for excelling where the psychotypical person would have a tougher time.
Hence the reason I lean toward thinking of our condition more as a variant in psychic functioning, and have always balked harshly at anyone calling my condition an illness of any sort. At labelling the condition a handicap in and of itself.
Would I take a pill to "cure" me of my "condition"? As likely as I would take one to cure me of myself. Would I like a more selectively functioning one, just "curing" me of my shortcomings in a more social environment? Sure. But I'm inclined to think anyone would say the same about an area they feel themselves shorted in.
But then, a cloud comes along, telling me "Stop thinking it pretty. You're deficient."
It's a tough question.