“Your child is autistic.” No parent wants to hear those words. But if they do, treating their child’s autism becomes paramount. Some parents, including advocate and actress Jenny McCarthy, claim to have cured their children’s autism through natural methods. But others insist we should be more focused on managing the disorder than pursuing something elusive. When it comes to autism, what’s the real diagnosis?
Parent and Autism Activist
Whilst I am unsure what the word 'managed' means in relation to autism, I am sure what 'cure' means. It means to generally 'to restore to health'.
There are a few issues with that stance as regards to autism. It firstly implies that there might be a cure. I agree with the National Autistic Society of the UK who say:
"There is currently no known 'cure' for autism. This does not mean,
however, that nothing can be done to help a person with autism."
It is an important distinction to make. You cannot 'remove' someone's autism and so in that sense there is not a cure. However, there are a lot of things that can be done to help autistic people. I'll touch on these later but they include things such as disparate as PECS for young children, to appropriate housing for autistic adults.
Secondly, to say that something has the potential to be cured implies that this 'something' is purely a medical issue. I do not believe that autism is purely a medical issue. I do not see autistic people as simply 'ill'. I think society can be just as disabling (if not more so) than a persons medical issues. The University of Sheffield have a good example of this (with deafness as an example):
"Medical model: I am deaf, so I cannot take notes from the overhead projector and watch the sign language interpreter at the same time
Social model:
The lecturer has not photocopied the OHP transparencies, so I have to
choose between taking notes from the overhead or watching the
interpreter."
Good therapies (what some refer to as 'interventions') will straddle the line between addressing the direct issues an autistic person has and also helping the autistic person function within society. PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) is a good example of this. The direct issue of attempting to find a way for the autistic person to communicate is addressed and at the same time, the classroom and teacher become aware that the autistic individual needs to communicate in a way that is different than non-autistic people.
I am very keen to raise awareness of the need for scientists, therapists, educators and other societal decision makers to apply more research to finding more ways for society to accommodate autistic people and for autistic people to play an active part in society. In this scenario, a cure is simply unnecessary.
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