|
Huh. My seven year old is HFA, and I take anti-depressants, so maybe that's a unique perspective from which to discuss autism 'cures'. I take zoloft because I am literally non-functional without it. I can't do basic things like go to the store, put gas in the car, pay bills, clean the house. Normal, everyday behaviors are basically impossible for me. With zoloft, I'm still not *happy*, but I have the energy to be a normal human. My kid is deeply weird, but basically functional. There are areas where he can't take care of himself, and we have to help him with those, but we also have seen him become more independent and better able to communicate and engage in basic self-care over the last few years. I wouldn't want to change who he is, but there are two caveats to that: * The comparison with antidepressants, if we accept it as congruent to what a hypothetical autism cure would do, means that I'd sign my kid up for that in a second. If it did to him what zoloft does to me, there's almost no down-side. * Right now he's a weird but functional human, which limits my interest in miracle cures, in any case. If he were to become non-functional to the degree that I am when I'm not medicated, I'd totally want to get him some kind of medication, regardless of whether it 'changed' his personality. It helps that he's one of those disturbingly smart HFA kids; it makes me more comfortable with imagining his life as an adult, knowing that he's likely to have people who want to help him manage his life issues. If he were not HFA, or not as smart as he is, I'd probably be more interested in advocacy for a cure.
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2014 17:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 05:23 |
|