<story><title>Autism&apos;s social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug</title><url>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312201647.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>exelius</author><text>As someone on the spectrum, I don’t necessarily know if this is something I would want. My ASD is a big part of my personality; if these social “difficulties” (which really just mean I click with a different type of person) were “solved” I don’t know I would be the same person.&lt;p&gt;Maybe this can offer some hope for others with more profound issues, but if you’ve found a way to function in society I’m not sure this will be very attractive outside a “let me try and see what it feels like” scenario.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Waterluvian</author><text>I have ADHD. Drugs like ritalin never &amp;quot;fixed&amp;quot; me. They basically allowed me an exchange: give up the charisma, personality, sociability, and appetite for 8 hours of being able to focus on something. I won&amp;#x27;t write an essay here but trust me that the two versions of me were day and night and both had significant benefits and challenges. I &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; struggled growing up.&lt;p&gt;By the time I got to college I learned to use the drugs as a switch I could flip when I needed the focused version of me.&lt;p&gt;Not that ADHD and ASD can be compared, but I wonder if maybe ASD treatments could offer that option. Ie. Not to &amp;quot;fix&amp;quot; you but to give you a tool to be wielded under your own control.</text></comment>
<story><title>Autism&apos;s social deficits in animal model are reversed by an anti-cancer drug</title><url>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312201647.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>exelius</author><text>As someone on the spectrum, I don’t necessarily know if this is something I would want. My ASD is a big part of my personality; if these social “difficulties” (which really just mean I click with a different type of person) were “solved” I don’t know I would be the same person.&lt;p&gt;Maybe this can offer some hope for others with more profound issues, but if you’ve found a way to function in society I’m not sure this will be very attractive outside a “let me try and see what it feels like” scenario.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>whatshisface</author><text>I think the experience of being a person goes a lot deeper than having any specific personality, if it didn&amp;#x27;t we wouldn&amp;#x27;t be sorting traits into good and bad. If not having learned to read has kept someone away from the influences of literature, we could say that it has impacted their personality, but would that be an excuse to never teach them?&lt;p&gt;Some behaviors associated with autism are really results of having less social influence acting on one&amp;#x27;s self (due to both slower learning and isolation). Would we consider them a fundamental part of the person, or just evidence of areas that the person still can grow in?</text></comment>