[ WP ] Every year on their birthday , everyone has the opportunity to change one thing about themselves , be it physical or otherwise . This year , you were thinking about ditching your tendency to be lazy , but you 've noticed a disturbing trend in people that mess with personalities .

( Not exactly the prompt, but inspired by it ) 
 
 It took me a while to work up the courage to do it, but on my 21st birthday, I removed my ASD. 
 
 I no longer existed. Well, of course I do, otherwise, you would n't be reading this. This is going to get very philosophical. 
 
 It had been long theorized that if Autism Spectrum Disorder was somehow `` cured'', the resulting being would not be the same person they were before, due to how pervasive the disorder is. Many support organizations strongly reccomended that anyone with any form of Autism do NOT remove it on their birthday unless it was the variety that locked them into their own mind. 
 
 I had had enough of being legally screwed over due to something outside of my control. To tell the truth, the Autism community kind of sickened me, as they seemed to revel in their dysfunction, rather than move past it. My first job after high-school was through a job agency that specialized in getting jobs for people with disabilities, which would mean that the place that hired me would know that I was not `` normal'' and as such, could have me assessed against a `` normal'' worker to see what my working capacity was and how much they would pay me, which could never be 100 % of what a `` normal'' person my age would have gotten for the same work in the same hours. I was required to attend appointments made by the government, even if I was studying or working, just to maintain my payments. I was reliant on restricted medication just to pass for neurotypical in fair light. I HATED the Autism community. I hated that one could self-diagnose with ASD and ruin it for the rest of us. I hated that our representation in the mass media was figures like Sheldon Cooper. I thought that my Autism had caused me nothing but pain and sorrow. 
 
 How wrong I was. 
 
 Since I removed my Autism, all the things that brought me joy have seemed empty. I allowed too many bridges to collapse into disrepair in terms of my friends. I can no longer sit down and do something until my body starts complaining to attend to it's needs. I-as-I-Was no longer existed. I am a stranger inhabiting a body that is not my own. 
 
 I have to live with my mistake for another 300 days. I have to wait 665 days to put in place my better fix of bettering my social skills, while retaining my ASD-level focus. Heed my advice, fellow ASD sufferers, do NOT remove your ASD.
