Monday, December 20, 2004
New York Times Article About Not 'Curing' Autistism
An article in today's New York Times, entitled How About Not 'Curing' Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading brings up some very interesting points about the difficulty of the austism spectrum. The debate reminded me a lot of those brought up in The Sound and the Fury, a terrific documentary about deafness and whether or not to "cure" a deaf child. It's not as black and white as you might initially think. To better understand the debate, I highly recommend seeing the film. (Note: You may need to register to see the Times article). Essentially, there are a growing number of advocates, many of whom are adults with Asperger's Syndrome and other Autism Spectrum Disorders, who believe autism should not be "cured" and even suggest that the nature of the disorder makes a "cure" impossible. They instead argue for more tolerance toward the behaviors that often manifest themselves by a society too quick to marginalize anything or anyone "different" than the so-called norm. Having never really been considered a "normal" person myself, it's a compelling argument.
# posted by J @ Monday, December 20, 2004 
