Healing Autism...

The first day I ever read a blog (that I was aware of…I quite possibly had seen a blog in the past but wasn’t aware of what it was), I stumbled upon comments from this post and told myself that I was keeping myself out of the intense and passionate autism blogring. But then, obviously, I changed my mind…I, having been diagnosed with autism at age three and having worked with children being diagnosed on the spectrum for over 12 years, foolishly believe I have some insight into this subject…I am also blessed to have very few readers, which helps when expressing opinions on so the oh-so-controversial subject of causes and cures for autism.

I work in early intervention and have indeed witnessed what “recovery”. What I mean by “recovery”, is simply that the child has lost his or her diagnosis and lives what society perceives as a fully, inclusive and functional life, save the few idiosyncrasies that we still have, yet suppress or conceal since we have been told by enough people that they are “strange”. When people talk about a “cure” for autism, I often wonder what that would look like? Would a “cure” remove interests labeled to be perseverative? If a child who was 9 or 12 or 17 was “cured”, would he or she suddenly know how to communicate effectively, understand novels, politics, art and poetry, care about economics, understanding lying (my mom had to explain what a lie was to me and why people did this), care about being popular, name brands and getting good grades? Perhaps it is my own tendency to think in pictures, but I hear people say things, like “I want to be happy” or “successful” or “fulfilled”, I often think, “yes, but what does that LOOK like?”. What will your life actually look like if you have or are these things? I consider myself to be very “happy”, “successful”, and “fulfilled”, yet conventionally, I do not have what society traditionally expects for someone of my age, gender, appearance, etc. Yet, I really don’t care, because, as I mentioned, I am happy, fulfilled and my own vision of successful. Now this is turning out to be a long post, but I do have a point and believe I might actually get to it eventually…so back to the title of this post, I don’t believe autism needs to be cured. It needs to be healed.

I simply can’t wrap my head around what a “cure” for autism would look like. And I have yet to meet anyone who can effectively explain it to me. But I know what “healing” autism would look like...at least to me…and in case you have read thus far, are not bored or irritated and still care about what I think, HEALING autism would include cleaning up the environment that is contributing to this diagnosis, detoxing our little friends bodies, removing pollutants, preservatives, hormones and mercury from our food, immunizations, cleansers and bath products AND creating a safer, more inclusive and less judgmental society who accepts and encourages what they now label as “strange” or “atypical behavior” (Whew! We have a lot of work ahead). Maybe, just maybe, we might want to try practicing less judgment and scrutiny within our own community.

Oh yeah, and by the way, if your wondering what caused my “autism”…it was my refrigerator mother who paid too much attention to my baby sister…How do I know this? Well, the doctor told her, and surely a medical doctor could NEVER be wrong.