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Do You Think Everyone Is Autistic?

Daniel

I often find myself come across people claiming "I'm a bit autistic" saying everyone is a bit autistic.

I point out to them so many things they refer to as "autism traits" are not autism traits at all but is just general human behaviours by all people, but when an autistic person does it it gets described negatively.  

Stimming as an example, I see nearly everyone stim, so many people tapping their foot on the floor, some picking their nails, some just twirling hair etc. because they do something an autistic person does they assume they're a bit autistic. 

When I tell them doing something labelled "autism trait" doesn't make them a bit autistic, that people are either autistic or not, I back it up asking "I sometimes say a metaphor, does that mean I'm a bit neurotypical?" I point out to them autism is a neurodevelopmental condition. 

I say "people with bipolar have mood swings, I hear most people have mood swings, so does everyone have a bit of bipolar disorder?" 

They still go claiming everyone's a bit autistic. Do you agree with the people who say everyone's a bit autistic?

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  • in reply to Daniel

    I would take issue with your use of 'supposed' and 'should', it sounds like a form of external planning, when mutation is in essence random. If two or more people came to exist with exactly the same genetics as each other, no natural law would have been broken.

    Identical twins are so heavily used in genetic research precisely because their genetics are essentially the same, as they are the products of the same egg and spermatozoon fertilisation event. Identical twins are naturally occurring clones. The difference at the level of DNA sequence between identical twins is very, very small and any differences will be mostly in non-coding regions. The differences between identical twins are very largely, though not exclusively, the result of epigenetic factors, such as differential DNA methylation, leading to differences in gene expression. Variation in gene expression can have noticeable effects on phenotype. Phenotypic differences could include one twin being slightly taller than the other, or one being autistic while the other is not. 

    Autism is definitely multifactorial, at the level of gene allele variation, differential gene expression and environmental factors. The latter two often being causally linked.

  • in reply to Martin

    Martin,

    Identical twins don't have identical genetic information, they are some genes that are supposed to differ in every human being, that it should not be the same in everyone. 

    Autism is primarily genetic with more than strong suspicion that environmental factors are involved. The gene that's involved with the development of autism is created out of a combination of other genes, it's not a primary gene.

    As at The Human Genome Project science writer Matt Ridley pointed out it was founded upon a fallacy, that there is no such thing as "the human genome". He pointed out that no one can say blood group A is normal and B, AB and O are abnormal. When the human genome project tried to get the average they would miss the ABO Gene saying variation is an integral part of the human, and any other genome that the genes should not be the same.

  • in reply to mael

    If autism were purely genetic in origin then all identical twins should be either both neurotypical or both autistic. However, identical twins where just one is autistic occur. This could be the effect of epigenetic differences, where slight differences in the environment of each foetus or new-born can cause variation in gene expression. It is known that problems during pregnancy and/or delivery can be associated with autism. 

    I suspect that there is a genetic predisposition for autism and that in some cases the genetics are such that the individual will be autistic whatever the environment, but for others, environmental influences are the deciding factor in whether the predisposition is converted into actual autism.

    It is, I think, somewhat like myopia (short-sightedness), some people become short-sighted in infancy, but in others it tends to only develop around the age of 10 or 11, and only if they have a history of doing a great deal of reading or other close-work. Children who have the pre-disposition to develop myopia, but who do not do a lot of close-work in the susceptible age range, will not develop the condition. By this analogy, I do not mean that autistic people can become so at 10 years old. The timescale for environmental triggers contributing to autism development is most likely in utero, or peri-natal.

  • in reply to Martin

    There are a combination of genetic factors that produce the end diagnose , It only merges as we don't understand the workings.  Like a key in a lock, there are some keys that are similar but still don't work . Yes it is complicated and there are similair changes that don't produce autism , But i think it is lack of the full genetic understanding that produces this view.. Otherwise if it is not genetic ,you are saying it is learned behaviour or caused by environment ,that it is the parents or society that causes autism .  Blaming the parents has been largely discredited ,but there could be  evolution or society [perhaps through chemical exposure ]  at play ,but still there would have to be a genetic part to this . 

  • in reply to mael

    The differences in brain structure, like many things in biology, are over a continuum. The genetic basis, and genetics is not the only factor, of autism is complex; it isn't an 'all or nothing' phenomenon like some genetically caused 'syndromes'. The model of an autistic brain type versus an allistic braintype is faulty inasmuch as the two clinally merge, though intermediate forms.