I hear it again.
Someone has “discovered” how to cure autism.

A cure.
As if my existence is a disease.
As if the way I experience the world is a broken machine that needs fixing.

Let me be clear: autism is not a damaged mind.
It is not an illness.
It is not something you “catch” or “erase.”
It is a way of being.

When I hear the word cure, what I really hear is conformity.

A cure means:
• I could finally go to parties and small talk about nothing.
• I could “fit in” by wasting 70% of my life on rituals and shallow expectations.
• I could silence the parts of me that innovate, create, and see connections others miss.

Do you see the irony? What you call a cure looks a lot like a cage.

⸻

My Story: Living Proof

I always was the quiet one.
The one who didn’t look you in the eye.

People mistook that for brokenness. They didn’t see the inside.

I served my country. I carried responsibilities and silence that few understood.
And later, I built a life that let me thrive: creating VR worlds, writing songs, imagining futures where technology and humanity work together instead of against each other.

These aren’t accomplishments I made despite being autistic.
They exist because I am autistic.

When you talk about curing autism, you erase me.
You erase millions of us who bring light into spaces you don’t even realize are dark.

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The Research: Proof We Are Not Damaged

This isn’t just my opinion. Science backs up what I know in my bones.
• Strengths improve life: Studies show that autistic people who get to use their strengths report higher life satisfaction, better well-being, and fewer mental health struggles (Taylor et al., 2023).
Not less. More.
• Workplace advantages: Autistic adults themselves list attention to detail, persistence, honesty, and problem-solving as strengths they bring to jobs (Lorenz & Heinitz, 2022). These aren’t just quirks — they’re core skills in technology, art, science, and design.
• Cognitive strengths: Research finds enhanced visual perception, stronger memory, and unique problem-solving approaches in autistic individuals (Griffiths et al., 2024).
Difference isn’t a bug. It’s the feature.
• Neurodiversity movement: The autistic rights movement has been clear for decades: autism is a natural variation of human cognition, not a disease. The real “illness” is stigma, exclusion, and forcing us to mask who we are (Frontiers in Psychology, 2021).

So when someone tells me there’s a “cure,” I look at the data and think:
Cure what, exactly? Creativity? Focus? Honesty? Pattern recognition?

You can’t “cure” difference without killing the brilliance inside it.

⸻

Not a Cure. A Culture Shift.

The truth is: autism doesn’t need curing.
What needs curing are the barriers, the prejudice, and the systems that treat us as less.

We don’t need to be erased.
We need to be understood.
We need a world where difference is not dismissed as damage.

I don’t want a pill to make me “normal.”
I want acceptance that makes me free.

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My Anthem

So I wrote a song. It’s called Autistic, Not Damaged.
It’s not sarcastic, it’s not bitter — it’s a heart-song. A reminder that difference isn’t illness. It’s identity.

The chorus says it all:

Autistic, not damaged — hear my song.
Being different made me strong.
I carry colors you can’t see,
And they shine through the worlds I weave.

Because what you call broken is, in truth, brilliance.

⸻

✍️ Oddly Robbie

👉Tell your music steam to play Autisic not Damaged