The idea of a cure for autism is itself controversial. Some people with autism say they don't want to be cured, because autism gives them a different way of looking at the world.
Interpretation
The notion of curing autism is debated, with some individuals embracing their unique perspective instead of desiring a cure.
In this quote, Simon Baron-Cohen highlights the controversy surrounding the idea of curing autism. He points out that many individuals on the autism spectrum view their condition not as a deficiency but as a different way of perceiving and interacting with the world, suggesting that the desire for a cure may not be universal among those affected.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion on neurodiversity at a conference.
When I first started in this field there were all kinds of stereotypes about autism, as if these were children from another planet, or children who had been brought up by wolves, that they weren't part of our population and were somehow separate.
Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with a neighbor.
Brains come in different types and they're all normal.
Well, in the general population, we find differences between the typical male and typical female. For example, males seem to be more interested in systems and females seem to be more interested in people and particularly people's emotions.
Empathy is a skill like any other human skill - and if you get a chance to practice, you can get better at it.
There are people with Asperger's whom I've met who certainly would be very upset to learn they'd hurt another person's feelings. They often have very strong moral consciences and moral codes. They care about not hurting people.
The mask, given time, comes to be the face itself
Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.
So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.
Africa should not again face isolation or stigmatisation based on ignorance and unrepresentative imagery.
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