A meaningful life is necessary for existence of a human being. Such problems raise questions on where the line is drawn. All of the support systems and therapy don't do much to address the problem. The only hope is that medical research will make sufficient progress to be able to treat this condition in the future.
Did you perhaps mean "purpose" instead of meaningful. Having purpose makes life meaningful. And yet, purpose is not dependent on physical or mental attributes.
For example, my wife's 20 year old cousin with who has cerebral palsy(motor skills mostly ok, intelligence level of a 10 year old) is a curler in the Special Olympics and recently won the provincial cup. She has purpose in life but if I understand your position correctly its not meaningful because of her disability.
Another example. I coach tykes football. I like having the younger kids and watching them learn and develop over a few years of ball. Every year we get new kids and every year we get one or two with varying degrees of ASD(obviously mild) or ADHD. And the one thing we agree on as coaches is to treat them all the same. Its amazing how much gaining a little confidence coupled with strong, steady reinforcement from a non-relative can go a long way in helping a child.
I guess my point is that everyone can be given purpose in life. People shouldn't be shuffled away somewhere out of sight because they make us uncomfortable by reminding us how we won the life lottery and they didn't.
I agree with you, and think that it would be downright dehumanizing to think that your wife's cousin doesn't have a purposeful/meaningful life.
My worry is that someone in Scooter's position has already been shuffled away. We don't know how Scooter perceives his situation, but we should be worried that he feels trapped, futile or meaningless.
Based on my experience with kids, scooter most likely feels trapped for various reasons:
1 - lack of internal coping mechanism (never taught that its ok to feel a certain way)
2 - the realization that he IS different without the accompanying external validation that it's ok to be different.
3 - a mostly aimless daily routine were one just waits out their days
4 - poor or no support network
This is not much different than kids put into the Children's Aid system. Now that's another shit show that needs fixing.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, most of what you're saying is accurate.
Our brains are wired wrong to participate in society without correction (internal or external); yet we still want to participate.
I'm on the mild end of the spectrum, to the point where I barely notice the effects in my day to day life, and I too hope it's something which can be treated.
There are many publications that suggest that autism spectrum disorders are caused by different neuron wiring compared to so called neuro-typical human. The nature of this differences is not well understood but it does not sound like something that can simply 'treated'
With some anecdotal evidence: my nephews autism (two nephews) have been improved (the symptoms lessened) by putting them on something called the "GAPS diet" for the past few years, moving them from pretty much being locked in a world of their own to interacting playfully with each other and making eye contact with trusted adults.
Of course, this is not a scientific study, and there may have been other influences in their improvement. But a definite improvement has been made.
