> Saying things like autism is something that should be cured is harmful.

Quote where I said autism should be cured. I am specifically talking about you flying off the handle because the word cure was mentioned.

> How many times have I repeated this in this thread?

Never. But again, what you have advocated is avoiding unwanted treatment which is the exact binary that's toxic from your world view.

> There is stigma against people with autism in no small part caused by the exact arguments you are making here.

Which argument have I made that stigmatizes autism.

> We're talking about a cure. Particularly in your case an involuntary one. Plenty of people are in therapy for this, and get coaching, me included! No one has a problem with that.

No, we aren't and I did not start this thread suggesting that a "cure" was possible or even desirable. But you jumped in screaming at me for mentioning the word cure. Even now, you are taking sentences I entered out of context because you want to make this conversation about a more safe position, that absolutely "curing" autism is something I want to do or would do.

You accused me of thinking of autism as being a social ill. I never said that. You accused me of trying to force cures on everyone, I never said that. You've accused me of not understanding what autism is, but now you run away when I give a pretty damn good definition of what it is. I have acted in good faith, all be it heated, in this conversation while you have been shifting goal posts and failing to respond to the points I've made. Instead, you fell back on accusations of my thoughts and motivations.

> You need more help than anyone else, I suspect - You can't seem to have an honest discussion about this, so I'm done.

No, you just can't admit to being wrong. You made accusations about what I thought and said and now when you can't actually back up the accusations you run away accusing me of being dishonest. That is dishonest and you know it.

Because you can't address the points I've made you've fallen onto the "Oh, you just are a terrible person that needs help".

> FWIW I work in ASD support groups with people of varying severities and the majority whenever this comes up would opt to not have a cure.

Cool, have you ever asked someone with severe autism this question? What did they say? Oh wait, nothing because if you've worked with ASD groups you know severe ASD folk are incapable of telling you what they think one way or another about treatment or therapy (beyond not liking it).

You have interacted with groups of people with mild to moderate ASD and generalized what that means for severe cases. Which is the entire thrust of the problem I have with people like you and a running theme of my comments. I have never said that someone who can advocate for themselves shouldn't be listened to. But instead of reading that, you want to read into what I've written that I want to shoot a magic cure all at everyone with autism. A position I NEVER TOOK. That is dishonest.

> No one has a problem with congenitally deaf people opting not to be "cured," so why is there such an issue here? Again, rhetorical question, I know the answer, and I have absolutely zero interest in discussing this further with someone like you.

But I'll answer it even though you don't like the answer.

1. I didn't suggest that someone with ASD who can advocate for themselves shouldn't have an active role in any therapy or treatment they receive. But if you respond, I suspect you'll leave this out.

2. Deaf people are fully capable of understanding and advocating for themselves and their needs.

3. People with severe autism are not capable of advocating for themselves or their needs. Further, they are not capable of understanding the implications of treatments or therapies.

That is the key point which you refuse to want to acknowledge is that ASD is a spectrum disorder and there is a huge difference between someone who is mild and someone on the severe end. Anyone that writes ANYTHING about how they don't want treatments or "cures" is definitionally moderate or mild in terms of the autism symptoms.

Can you understand that?

Someone like you does not want to recognize the gradations of autism. Instead, you want to pretend that the self diagnosed internet warriors can represent everyone with ASD in all cases. You are the one taking the nuance out of the discussion because you can't even admit in this comment section that unwanted therapies or drugs are sometimes necessary.