Published on 12, July, 2020
It seems a lot of Autistic folks have shaped our world, maybe the stigma of autism is that normal people are scared of the evolutions next step.
We are not better than normal people, we are just different and that scares them, I know there is a spectrum where some people can cope better than others.
Its information overload which can be difficult to decipher.
I have recently self diagnosed with Autism, I think its caused by a gene mutation in DAT1 which is over expressed as a dopamine reuptake channel. This means that dopamine, is sucked out of its receptor site before it can do its job, so this leads to anxiety for no reason and studies have shown anxiety affects memory.
So anxiety causes a cloudy head and difficulty in communication, which might make it hard for people as they don't know what to say, this becomes a negative feed back loop.
www.appliedbehavioranalysisprograms.com/.../
I think that some Autistic people are and have been capable of many great inventions etc over the years and it's good to view Autism in a positive light. However, my youngest daughter, who turned 3 today and is also diagnosed as Autistic. She is still pre-verbal and I think she also has intellectual delay. I imagine that she will need support for the rest of her life. Don't get me wrong, she's happy and healthy but sadly, I doubt that she will be remembered in history as a great inventor or anything. I just think that Autistic brains are wired differently and some of us do have very specialist skills in niche areas but not all.
Very true I think i have the smarts but I lack the social skills, I had an idea that I could use crispr to repair the faulty DAT1 mutation.But that would require a retrovirus and so on in a saline bag with a IV line linked to my brain.I have read the papers and I could probably get the gene therapy stuff I need as its really cheap, the hard part and dangerous bit is inserting a probe into my brain and then inserting the gene therapy to repair my genes. (I wont do this though surgery is needed)I do wonder though if it worked would it make the bad parts of autism go away or would it make me normal ?I find social situations very dificult, but at the same time I don't want to lose my ability to think diffrently.
I'm aware of the implication of DAT1 in the reuptake of dopamine and it's implications in tics in ADHD and Autism. I also read a paper just the other day that suggests an abnormality in the myelination of brain circuitry in Autism, although they didn't specify what gene coded for it. My youngest is on the waiting list for genetic testing, myself, her dad and her siblings will all be tested too so I will some day soon have a full genetic profile of us all, but not yet. NHS waiting list time dependent!
I'm not a fan of Autism cures though! I personally think that if our brains are wired differently then it is as it is. feeding a retrovirus into your brain via an IV line seems very risky! Probes being inserted into brains seems rather risky too!!
I don't imagine that the gene therapy would work on an adult as how would it undo the brain circuitry already in place? Perhaps it might be better to look into ways of managing your symptoms rather than undertaking anything dangerous?
True, Id like the autistic traits of thinking differently without the negatives, no idea on what it would actually do if anyone tried such therapies. Saying that gene therapy might be useful for those on the spectrum who are not so lucky. I was reading a paper where they where using gene editing to give sight to blind people who had some sort off genetic eye disorder. I know editing eyes dna vs brains are totally different, but it can be done, I guess the ethics of altering a persons genome still needs caution.