The Meaning of Cure
The goals of the “global biomedical research” funded by organizations such as NAAR and Autism Speaks are to find out the “causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism.”
“Curing autism” and the very word “cure” are fighting words in autism discussions, with many parents and researchers seeming to line up on the “cure” side and some parents and autistics proclaiming that “cure” is, indeed, a four-letter word.
It may not be possible, but I do not think that “cure” has to be a dirty word. Our word “cure” is from the Latin word cura, whose basic meaning is “care, concern, attention, carefulness“; cura as meaning “healing, medical attendence, cure,” is a more specialized, medical use of the word. And as a parent, as a mother, the one thing I know I must do is care for—take care of–Charlie, my autistic son.
When I behold my big, beautiful, and sometimes brazen son, Charlie, pumping the pedals of his bike; when I hear his soft, still sweetly young, voice, serenading me with a half-articulated lullaby (perfectly in tune), I know that Charlie, as he was and as he was formed before he was born, has always been perfect. There are (if I may use another fighting word) “devastating” moments—it is terrible to see your child hurt himself, and hurt himself, and to hear that scream. But these are all part of our Autismland journey.
Research that may lead to “a route to helping people avoid developing it” (see Scripps Howard News Service, “Researchers begin to get a handle on autism”) may be done with the best of intentions (not all will agree with that), but subscribes to some of the most dangerous myths of autism, that autistic individuals are “abnormal” and “need to be fixed”; that the neurodiversity of autism is something the human race does not need.
Charlie is, has always been, and always will be, perfect.
Incurably.
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POSTED IN: Autism Organizations, Classics, Education, Genetics, Language, Stereotypes, Treatment
10 opinions for The Meaning of Cure
Ballastexistenz
May 10, 2006 at 1:27 pm
The meaning of a word is not in the meaning of the ancient etymologies of the word, but in the common usage of the word.
It may be enjoyable and interesting to look at all the ancient roots of words and see how they fit together and what they mean. But doing that doesn’t necessarily mean anything about how the word is being used today, or how it should be used today.
I mean, “thrill” and “nostril” are both derived from an Old English word for “hole”, but arguing that anything thrilling should possibly be regarded as really nasal, or really related to some hole somewhere, makes no sense to me.
The word thing seems, to me, like a game. And like all games, it can be fun.
But in the end, words have no reality of their own, and people are not saying “cure” when they really just mean “care”, which are two separate concepts. The vast majority of the world does not speak Latin, nor are they familiar with the etymologies of every word, and that is not what they are talking about when they talk about curing autism.
I see no need to make what they are doing more palatable by playing games with language.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 10, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Good point. I am by no means advocating for any kind of “cure.”
Still, words and language evolve and it’s important to think that we are not the playthings of language—that we can change the meaning of words. As a Classicist–a professor of Latin and Greek–it is my vocation to keep alive what words used to me.
One of those being the Greek autos, which does not just mean “self” in the ancient language.
Ms Clark
May 10, 2006 at 2:27 pm
There are many people who think that curing autism is a goal worthy of endangering a child or adult’s life for. They think in terms of cancer. You risk a cancer patients life by dosing them with poison and radiation (poison and medicine are the same thing at different doses which puts the lie to “thimerosal is poison..” yeah, no kidding, so is asprin, so is vitamin A) Because the cancer is likely to kill the person one does a risk/benefit analysis and might push the patient to the limits of his ability to withstand poison in order to chance saving his life.
Autistic people are abused by ABA (maybe not always) and by DAN! practioners (almost always) and the message to the kid (don’t think the kid doesn’t get the message) is you must change. Your autism is a problem, and I will “yank it out by force.” Or as St. Bernie of Rimland says, “I want to send a ballistic missile in the heart of autism.” We are supposed to appreciate that. The ballistic missile of ASA and DAN! founder Rimland is his colorful, if abusive, metaphor for curing autism.
How about some etymology on “ballistic” and “missile” and some for “hate” and “destroy”?
I’m glad you love Charlie, Kristina. But I think you dance to close to the DAN! folks and give them support. I think that’s incompatible with neurodiversity and loving Charlie as he is. That’s my opinion.
In the case of autism, cure is not care. Cure is kill. Like the poster from Ralph Smith says about the autistic man who “cured” himself and now is dead.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 10, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Thank you!
The root of “ballistic” is ballein, the Greek for “to throw.” “Missile” is from mittere, the Latin for “to send.”
Keep sending these missives, and I will try to keep on dancing.
John Best
May 10, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Ms Clark;
Autism is much worse than cancer. At least someone with cancer can tell you it hurts. Autistic kids smash their heads through walls to try to ask you to help them. Child abusers like you who allow your kid to rot should have your right to free speech revoked so your idiotic rantings can not influence unsuspecting parents who do not sadistically torture their kids by forcing them to remain in the grasp of autism.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 12, 2006 at 10:39 am
I knew “cure” was a “fighting word” when I wrote this post.
I knew writing about Charlie and autism in a public forum–especially on the Internet–would expose him and me and our family to misunderstandings and misrepresentations.
I hope to keep the discussion going and thank everyone.
Autism Vox » Physical Abuse: a tough topic I have to worry about
May 12, 2006 at 10:54 am
[…] The notion of abuse was also mentioned in the comments on my post on The Meaning of Cure: (Ms. Clark) “Autistic people are abused by ABA (maybe not always) and by DAN! practioners (almost always) and the message to the kid (don’t think the kid doesn’t get the message) is you must change. Your autism is a problem, and I will “yank it out by force.” […]
Phil Schwarz
Apr 8, 2007 at 12:17 am
Three old chestnuts worth revisiting, on this topic:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/s/dspicer/ASNCaddress.html
http://www.autistics.org/library/pschwarz.html
http://web.syr.edu/~jisincla/cure.htm
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 8, 2007 at 12:57 am
Thanks, Phil—-I’ll try to highlight them in a separate post, too.
Mike
Apr 12, 2008 at 6:25 pm
There are natural “cures” that seem to help. For one, making sure you child’s digestive system is functioning properly by adding enzymes and probiotics to their diet. Then adding some immune system boosters. Research at Stanford and John Hopkins with sulforaphane help with digestive problems and even gut cancers. A family friend has a child with Autism and taking a broccoli fortified flax hull powder + an 8 mushroom formula (powder) in their morning oatmeal along with probiotics and enzymes had a fast and drastic impact on their child. They’re also trying several detox products, currently one called HMD that has been clinically tested and found effective at removing Mercury. Is a detox program along with a digestion-immune system program a cure for Autism or simply a protocol-program that helps with the symptoms, naturally? Either way, seems to work.
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