Another Worthless Celebrity Anti-Vaxer

[Maeglin]

@BrainGlutton

You could say the same of mental retardation – there is no non-retarded person inside – but it would still be worth curing if possible. The person cured of intellectual disability could begin to learn all the things he/she was previously incapable of comprehending; and likewise with the autistic cured of emotional/social disability.

This is the first time you have heard any dissent, I presume, because you have not really given this much thought.

Autistic Jim Sinclair writes in Don’t Mourn For Us:

Autism is not something a person has, or a ‘shell’ that a person is trapped inside… Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism. Therefore, when parents say, ‘I wish my child did not have autism,’ what they’re really saying is, ‘I wish the autistic child did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead.’ This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.

While you’re on wiki: Neurodiversity - Wikipedia
See for yourself what the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network thinks of “combating autism”: http://autisticadvocacy.org/2014/03/stopcombatingme/

By naming its primary autism-related legislation the “Combating Autism Act,” Congress devalues the lives of autistic individuals. The purpose federal autism-related activities should not be to “combat” autism but rather to support autistic individuals and their families. We would be glad to work with your office to identify a less stigmatizing name, such as the Autism Community Empowerment Act or the Autism Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. The latter would bring the legislation in line with the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000.