A cure for Autism?

Just when you think you are getting somewhere with Autism Awareness someone asks you if there is a cure.
A cure?

My only reply was that Autism is not a disease.

No one knows what causes Autism.
No one.
There are many theories, many stories, and lots of new studies being published daily, but there is yet to be a reason why it happens.
Vaccinations were to blame for a long, long time but that has since proven to be a false claim.

Autism is a neurological condition. Not a mental illness, not a psychological disorder.
If you have it, it is because you are born with it.
Your brain is wired differently that’s all.
It is complex and affects many different aspects of development.
It is nothing more glamorous than a few misplaced connections.
It is simply a difference.
A lifelong disability that cannot be fixed.

Autism is a difference that has no cure.
You cannot rewire a brain, you cannot re route the channels with medication or by eating a special diet.
Studies have shown it to be increasingly conclusive that Autism is a genetic condition that begins in the womb.
Children with Autism are born that way and Autism is a part of who they are.
Autism is what makes them so unique and amazing.
Why would you want to cure something that makes them who they are?

I have read stories about people curing their childs Autism, but it is these stories that lead me to question whether that child even had Autism in the first place.
I am a mother of an autistic child.
In desperation I have tried many things which have all concluded the same thing; I will never be able to change who she is….
….and I don’t want to.

Parents of children with Autism don’t want a cure.
They simply want to help their child to be a success in whatever they want to achieve.
There are many different ‘treatment’ options avaliable but all they do is dampen the symptoms, teach them to be ‘normal’, and show them how to be socially accepted.
All valid and worthwhile options, but none of them a cure.

That said, I still let my child attend speech and language therapy, go to physio, to see the occupational therapist.
Not because I am looking to make her better, but because I want to make things better for her.

The most important “cure” for Autism is to teach the child that being different is not a bad thing.
We need to make it possible for a child to live and thrive by helping people to understand the nature of the condition.
For the child to grow up and be happy, their Autistic needs have to be met.
The way forward for us all is to accept difference in a world full of discrimination.

Getting rid of Autism isn’t the key to the perfect child…..I love mine just the way she is.