Conversation

Are you autistic? || If you press the button, no person with autism is ever born again (or become autistic through other means), though existing people are left unchanged. Do you press the button?

Yes | Yes
4.9%
Yes | No
22%
No | Yes
25%
No | No
48%

7,631 votesFinal results

208

125

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I'm not going to vote, because this is not just a fun thought experiment to me; I'll just say that things have never, ever gone well when people start trying to decide what kinds of people shouldn't exist.

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I think I generally agree, but how do you feel about extremes? Like, if you could genetically engineer humanity so nobody ever had a cluster headache ever again, would you?

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I don't think we know enough about the human genome and how it works, or human neurology, to safely say yes to this. Also this is really comparing apples and oranges. Autism is inherent to who we are as people on multiple levels...

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and

To my knowledge, people with debilitating headaches don't generally feel the same way, but I would really defer to them about what kinds of treatment options they feel are most needed, since I don't have that experience.

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and

In general, I don't feel we should be making these decisions for other people when we can help it. Bodily autonomy is a human right.

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and

(Sometimes you can't. Sometimes small children need lifesaving medical decisions made for them by parents or guardians. But when we can help it, I think we should refrain from hijacking the life choices of others.)

Aella

@Aella_Girl

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@epballou

Yeah this is why I was careful to say "future people" instead of existing people. That way it's simply just... Not having them exist on the first place instead of actively violating bodily autonomy.

5:45 PM · Apr 13, 2020

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I am not interested in a future of humanity that does not include people like me. That IS a statement on the lives and value of currently existing autistic people. "YOU'RE okay, but no more people like you in the future, mkay?" No.