Does Autism Need to Be Cured?An exploration of cure culture and it's relationship with Autistic culture.
For decades, conversations about an autism cure have framed Autistic people as problems to be solved. Society continues to rely on outdated stereotypes of autism; a mythical spectrum running from the “severely disabled” at one end to the quirky mathematician at the other. Despite years of advocacy from the Autistic community, many still believe that curing autism or developing a prenatal test would be a good thing. But let’s be clear, the idea of an autism cure is not about support or compassion. It is about eugenics, rooted in capitalism’s obsession with productivity. Eighty years after Hans Asperger saved the “useful” Autistics while condemning others, we are still fighting for the right of every Autistic person to exist, regardless of independence, skill set, or economic value. This article is part of a wider campaign against Amazons platforming of fake cure content on their website. Read more by click here and here. Autism, Ableism, and InhumanityThe belief that curing autism would be beneficial comes from a broader assumption that disability makes people less than human. That standard of humanity is defined by neuronormativity; expectations of independence, embodiment, productivity, and communication that not everyone can or should meet. When Autistic people need more support, society sees us as broken. Cure culture grows out of that assumption, claiming the right to “fix” or erase us because our existence is inconvenient. As Autistic activist Mel Baggs once wrote:
Ableism is the soil in which cure culture thrives. It convinces us that we are burdens, that segregation is natural, that our exclusion is deserved. Even within the neurodiversity movement, we can become isolated, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by force. The Fallacy of the Autism CureThe push to find a cure for autism misunderstands what autism is. Autism is not a disease, not an injury, not something foreign to the body. Autism is not something we have, it doesn’t belong to us and we don’t carry it as an appendage; it is who we are. To “cure” autism would not free us. It would erase us. Autism cannot be separated from the person. Talking about an autism cure is therefore not about healing, it is about elimination. It is violence disguised as medicine and empowered by conspiracy. Autistic people are human, and deeply empathetic. We do not need to be cured. What we need is for cure culture to be dismantled. We are whole, and deserve to be treated as such. Autistic Burnout and the Real Source of SufferingSome argue that life as an Autistic person is hard, and therefore a cure for autism would end suffering. This gets the cause wrong. Our suffering does not come from being Autistic, rather it comes from being forced into environments hostile to our neurology. Autistic burnout is not simply exhaustion. It is a collapse of connection, a crisis of belonging. It happens when we are denied spaces of safety, pushed out of our monotropic flow, and stripped of dignity. The answer is not to cure autism but to create neurodivergenct-competent services and environments. We need systems that understand our ways of living, rather than trying to overwrite them. Burnout is not solved by “fixing” Autistic people. It is eased when we are allowed to nest, to lilypad, to transition gently between demands in ways that honour our rhythms and restore connection. Why Autism Doesn’t Need a CureNo one; government, doctor, parent, or policymaker, has the right to decide whether we should exist. The very idea of measuring life by “value” is a capitalist distortion. Human beings do not need value to justify existence. Autism does not need to be cured. What needs curing are the systems of normativity and ableism that label us broken. What needs transforming are the environments that exclude us, the services that silence us, and the cultural norms that commodify human life. Autism and Human DiversityAutistic people are not a monolith. I am not like your child, and your child is not like me. We are not even identical to our past selves. Each Autistic person is unique, and our support needs do not determine our humanity or write to exist as we are. We are the authors of our story regardless of support needs. When people say, “You’re not like my child”, what they really mean is that they want to hold onto a deficit narrative. Whether someone needs round-the-clock support or lives independently, every Autistic person is fully human, fully deserving of life. What Needs to Change Instead of Curing AutismAutism isn’t what needs to be “fixed.” The real change must happen in society:
Autism does not need a cure. Autistic people need to be embraced, uplifted, supported, and given the freedom to exist in all our diversity. Closing ThoughtsWhen you hear someone ask, “Should autism be cured?” remember this; talking about an autism cure is really talking about eliminating Autistic people. The answer isn’t to cure us. The answer is to cure ableism, cure normativity. Autistic people do not need a cure. What we need is connection, belonging, and the right to live as ourselves. Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy David Gray-Hammond, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe.
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Saturday, 13 September 2025
Does Autism Need to Be Cured?
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