Message #310070

[mtmerrick]

though i would like to hear KZ's opinions on this, i completely disagree.

autisim is, just like having color blindness, being born deaf, without an arm, retarded, or with cerebral palsy, a defect in your body that prevents you from having a normal life, and handicaps you for life. by "curing" or even being able to treat it a bit, you can take these messed up kids and give them something resembling a normal life. My grandmother (back in Arizona) works with autistic kids aged 7-12 for a living. i've met these children, they don't even seem to have a human mind. many of them will never be able to live or their own or hold a job. for many of them, they are incapable of learning like a normal person, and may not even finish school. my cousin, Riley, has a type autism that makes him seem fairly normal. however any time he starts to get emotional he stops acting.... well, human. the kid's 8, but he scares me. either he becomes vulcan or he will get locked up. a mental disorder, for that is what it is, like that, is not something we let walk around in this society. he even realizes he's "not normal" and it really upsets him.

now, before any of you attack me, i know there are a lot of types of autism that DO allow for a fairly normal life. however these cases are not in the majority. most people with autism are faced with more challenges than most of us could cope with, and, well, most of them can't. so yes, if i told my cousin riley, or any of those kids my grandmother works with (those who could/would understand me anyways) that i could make them normal, they would take it in a heartbeat. so no, its not comparing a cat to a dog, its comparing a human being with an abnormal brain, to the rest of the planet. still the same species, but with a handicap that can cripple them for life.

if you support helping people in wheelchairs to walk, people born with missing limbs to get prosthetics, people born deaf to hear, preventing babies born to a mother with aids from contracting the mother's disease in the womb, then how do you not support finding the cause of and putting a stop to autism?



DO NOT FLAME PLEASE. I want to hear your opinions on the topic, especially if you have any experience with autism. that goes for you too KZ. not trying to offend anyone, just stating my personal beliefs.



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