Question
Dear Gramps,
I’m someone who deals with having Asperger’s or Autism Spectrum Disorder. One of the blessings that I’m looking forward to is the possibility of being healed and not having it anymore, but I’ve also been concerned that this may be a burden that I’ll have to deal with in the next life, as it’s a mental condition. Will I be healed?
Jean
Answer
That’s a deeply personal question, and it usually comes from a real place—wondering not just about doctrine, but about identity, struggle, and hope. So instead of giving a quick or overly simple answer, it helps to walk through what we actually know from the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how those teachings apply.
In Latter-day Saint belief, you are more than your physical body. You are an eternal spirit, a child of God, with a divine identity that existed before this life and continues after it. Your personality, your capacity to love, your way of thinking—those are not accidents. They are part of who you are eternally. At the same time, this life includes real limitations. Bodies get tired, minds can struggle, and the world we live in isn’t perfect. The doctrine of the Resurrection is meant to answer what happens to all of that.
The Book of Mormon teaches that “the soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul… yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23). That idea of a “proper and perfect frame” matters. It suggests that whatever is out of alignment in mortality—physically, mentally, emotionally—will be set right. A few chapters earlier, it also teaches that this restored body becomes immortal, no longer subject to the same kinds of weakness or limitation (Alma 11:45).
So where does something like autism fit into that? LDS theology doesn’t give a direct statement on exactly what will or won’t carry over under specific conditions. There isn’t a line of scripture or a conference talk that says, “Autism will disappear,” or “Autism will remain unchanged.” That can feel frustrating, but it also means we have to rely on broader truths that are clearly taught.
One of those truths is that the Savior’s Atonement and the Resurrection don’t just bring us back—they make things whole. The Bible describes this kind of restoration in powerful imagery: “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isaiah 35:6). That’s not just about physical healing—it points to communication barriers, limitations, and struggles being removed. Another verse adds a layer of understanding: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In other words, the confusion, the misalignment, the difficulty in fully understanding or being understood—those things are temporary.
Modern Church leaders have taught the same principle in very direct ways. Dallin H. Oaks explained, “We know that many limitations on mortality will be set right in the Millennium… All will have the opportunity to receive the blessings of eternal life.” That phrase—“limitations on mortality”—is important. It includes anything that restricts a person’s ability to fully experience joy, growth, or connection.
In a similarly compassionate teaching, Jeffrey R. Holland said, “Broken minds can be healed just the way broken bones and broken hearts are healed” (“Like a Broken Vessel,” October 2013). That statement directly addresses neurological and mental struggles. It doesn’t define every detail, but it clearly places those experiences in the category of things Christ can and will heal.
At the same time, LDS doctrine also teaches that your identity is not erased in the process of becoming perfect. God is not trying to turn everyone into the same kind of person. The goal isn’t to strip away individuality—it’s to remove what causes suffering and limitation while preserving and refining what is uniquely yours. That means the question isn’t just “Will autism still exist?” but rather, “What parts of my experience are limitations, and what parts are expressions of who I am?”
For many people, autism includes both. There can be real challenges—difficulty communicating, feeling misunderstood, sensory overload, or social isolation. Those are genuine burdens, and based on everything taught in LDS theology, those burdens will not follow you into eternity in the same way. They fall into the category of “limitations on mortality” that will be set right.
But autism can also include ways of thinking deeply, noticing details others miss, feeling things intensely, or approaching the world with a different kind of clarity or focus. Those aspects don’t look like flaws that need to be erased. They look more like parts of a unique identity that could be refined and expanded when no longer weighed down by difficulty.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 296). That promise isn’t just about physical loss—it applies to anything in life that feels unfair, limiting, or incomplete. In a similar way, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin taught, “The Lord will compensate the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way” (“Come What May, and Love it”, October 2008). Those teachings reinforce that nothing about your experience is wasted, and nothing unfair is permanent.
So will you have to “deal with your autism” in the next life? Not in the way that question usually means it. You won’t be carrying the frustration, confusion, or limitations that may come with it in mortality. Those things belong to a fallen world, and the whole point of the Resurrection is that they don’t last.
But you won’t lose yourself either. You won’t become a completely different person with a completely different identity. The parts of you that are real, meaningful, and connected to your divine nature will remain—and they’ll be clearer, freer, and more fully expressed than they are now.
A simple way to hold all of this together is this: anything that causes pain or limitation will be healed, and anything that reflects your eternal identity will be preserved and perfected. That’s the pattern LDS doctrine points to again and again.
In the end, this question is really about whether you will still be you—and whether the hard parts of your life will finally make sense. The restored gospel answers with hope. You will still be you, and yes, things will be made right.
Gramps
