"Autistic and proud of it", article from "New Scientist Print Edition"

I think this article defines more than one point of view. One from the autistic adult and another from some parents. I found it very interesting. enjoy. .

Autistic and proud of it

• 18 June 2005
• From New Scientist Print Edition.
• Bijal Trivedi
• Bijal Trivedi is a science writer based in Washington DC

ROY,a high-functioning 28-year-old autistic with a blond military buzz cut and a wide disarming grin, lives on society's edge. At his dojo in Takoma Park, Maryland, where he has lived for the past six-and-a-half years, he leads an essentially monastic existence immersed in his two passions: martial arts and Buddhism. For Roy, who didn't reveal his last name, contact with the outside world has to have a purpose. He agreed to an interview only because he felt his message might be helpful to others. "It's OK not to be interested in socializing, to live quietly on the borders of society," he says. "It's OK to be alone."

Roy has good reason to want his voice heard. With autism diagnoses rising steadily, talk of an "epidemic" and a growing search for a cure, Roy feels threatened. "I feel stabbed when it comes to 'curing' or 'treating' autism," he says. "It's like society doesn't need us."

Many autistic people are starting to agree. They have had enough of being treated as a medical problem, arguing that autism is not a disease that needs to be cured but just a normal part of human diversity. This emerging "autistic rights" movement hopes to launch an international campaign akin to Gay Pride, encouraging autistic people everywhere to embrace their "neurodiversity", and persuading wider society to accept them as they are.