“To Be, Or Not To Be, That Is The Question:” Or Is It?
The following essay was written as an assignment for my BYU-Idaho ENG106 course, which I am taking as part of the Pathway Program. I present it here, as suggested by a friend, for your comments and thoughts. My thesis developed as I contemplated a question that was posed to me on another post. The answer to the question is far too detailed to present here in one piece so I offer this as a first course.
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“Autism is the one medical condition I can think of
where no one can agree on the legitimacy of any of its so-called advocacy
groups” (Robinson, 2009). One side clamors for a cure, while just as loudly the
other side decries the need to be cured, and somewhere in the middle caregivers
plead for a little of both. In every facet of the autism debate there is no
middle ground.
This argument reminds me of a scene from The Fiddler on
the Roof. As Perchik, a Marxist, encourages a group of Anatevka villagers to be
concerned with current events, Mordcha disputes the idea. Why should he trouble
himself with what is happening in the world; if the world wants to fight and
argue, “Let the outside world break its own head.” Tevye agrees with Mordcha.
Perchik counters, “You can't close your eyes, to what's happening in the
world.” Tevye agrees with this too. Avram, turning to Tevye, says, “He's right
and he's right? They can't both be right.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Tevye
concurs, “You know, you are also right.”
So what is the answer? The Harvard Business School, when
considering complex issues, applies this “fundamental truth: Rarely does asking
the wrong question yield the right answer” (Christensen, 2012). The key then is
not in the answer, but in the question. No longer should we ask questions in
terms of “cure;” rather, we should ask in terms of “treatment.”
Cure, by definition, is bound in language that speaks of
restoring health “in a way that eliminates or rectifies…something objectionable
or harmful” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Treatment, however, is not restricted
solely to patient care “to combat, ameliorate, or prevent a disease, disorder,
or injury” (Mosby’s, 2009); it also conveys our very manner, conduct, approach,
and “behavior toward a person” (New Century, 1931).
According to research, around 15% of the autism
population has what is called "secondary" autism, “in which a
chromosome abnormality, single-gene disorder or environmental agent can be
identified” as the cause. The remaining 85% have ‘idiopathic’ autism, whose
cause is completely unknown (NHGRI, 2012). What is known is that autism is considered
a spectrum disorder—think rainbows or prisms—because it illustrates, for those
with high IQ's to those with mental retardation, an array of developmental
delays and disorders affecting social, communication, motor, and language
skills.
Because the cause is unknown, and all individuals are as
different as they are the same, treatment allows for the acceptance of all
causes, all remedies, and all therapies for autism. Much like the circumstances
of the mid-mission explosion on Apollo 13, treatment doesn’t have to know what
caused the problem to secure and maintain safety, or enrich life. Through the
approach of “working the problem,”[1]
NASA applied solutions to each symptom from the facts they had, changed
treatment when initial remedies were ineffective, found solutions, and in time
eliminated the initial cause—all without ever disregarding their distinct
character and individuality as reflected in Skylab, Challenger, Hubble, or
Voyager (NASA, 2001).
Autism carries with it a variety of labels, which aren’t
really diagnoses or official terms, but generalities. These labels make it
easier for one to understand the limits or abilities of the individual ranging
from high functioning to low functioning, or classic autism. On the
debilitating extreme is sensory dysfunction with acute sensitivity to “light,
sound, touch, taste or smell” such that “crowds, bright lights or loud noises
can be overwhelming, and painful” (Rudy, 2010). Amid this hypersensitivity,
individuals may also exhibit “self-stimulatory behaviors [to] include
self-injury [and] may include…mood disorders” (Rudy, 2010). From this
perspective, treatment pleads for medical remedies to relieve, correct, and
prevent the torturous, harmful, and debilitating conditions. From the higher
functioning side of the spectrum, where sensory difficulties may be limited to
mild speech delays, personality quirks, inability to maintain eye contact,
engage in extended conversation, or pick up on social cues, they say, “We don't
need to be cured. We just need tolerance and understanding” (Robinson, 2009).
Their autism is a part of them, their identity, and as such “should be
respected as a normal human difference” (Warber, n.d.). To that end, treatment
is in full accord and accepts and acknowledges them for who they are.
Some condescendingly state that parents who desire a
cure are in effect saying, “ 'I wish the autistic child I have did not exist
and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead'…[their] greatest wish is
that one day we will cease to be and strangers you can love will move in behind
our faces" (Sinclair, 1993). Nothing is further from the truth; this
offensive view is founded in the narrow-minded limits generated when speaking
in terms of cure rather than treatment. Compassion, and nothing less, compels
parents to seek everything that treatment affords by way of tolerance and
medicine. While maintaining the identity of their children, parents want
proportionate doses of acceptance instead of stares, understanding instead of
ridicule, relief instead of suffering, and joy instead of agony. I know, for I
am a parent of a child with autism.
The question of treatment isn’t a game of semantics.
Unlike the parochial cure, treatment recognizes that there is more than one
side to the story—a story that is as varied as there are ways of expressing
autistic tendencies, characteristics, traits, and personalities. It pushes for
therapeutic techniques, all the while requiring deportment in the approach.
“Treatment is not to label or change a person’s fundamental personality” but to
strike a balance between a life free of incapacitating disabilities and one of
self-expression in a neurologically diverse “welcoming world” (Masland, 2005).
References
Christensen,
C. M. (2012). If Harvard Business School were a religion, it could be
Mormonism. Washington Post. Retrieved
from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-11/national/35455387_1_mormon-leadership-wrong-question-lds-church
Cure.
(2013). In Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.
Retrieved 31 January 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cure
Dumoulin,
J. (2001). Apollo 13. NASA.gov. Retrieved
31 January 2013, from http:// science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html
Jewison,
N. (Producer & Director). (1971). The
Fiddler on the Roof [Motion Picture].
United States: United Artists.
Masland,
M. (2005). Children in the Grip of Autism. NBCNEWS.com.
Retrieved from
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6901860/ns/health-mental_health/#.URB9B1oi4h1
Mosby’s Medical Dictionary. (8th ed.). (2009).
St. Louis, MO: Mosby
National
Human Genome Research Institute. (2012). Learning About Autism: Is Autism
Inherited. Retrieved from http://www.genome.gov/25522099
Robinson,
J. E. (2009). The ‘Cure’ for Autism, and the Fight Over It. Psychology Today. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/my-life-aspergers/200910/the-cure-autism-and-the-fight-over-it
Rudy,
L. J. (2010). What is Severe Autism. About.com.
Retrieved from http://autism.about.com/ od/autismterms/g/What-Is-Severe-Autism.htm
Sinclair, J. (1993). Don’t Mourn For Us. Our Voice, 1(3).
The New Century Dictionary. (7th ed.).
(1931). New York, NY: D. Appleton-Century Company
Warber,
A. (n.d.) Should Autism Be Cured. LoveToKnow.com.
Retrieved from Http:// autism.lovetoknow.com/Should_Autism_Be_Cured
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