Published on 12, July, 2020
Is it possible that for none autistic parents have an autistic child?
so if parents and grandparents don’t have autism is it possible for the kid to have it? I’m only asking cos there’s a lot of discussion on ahem (Tiktok) highlighting autism is genetic (correct) but what is also being shown is that parents of autistic children are also autistic but in denial and a lot of the family members actually have traits… soo that leads to my question of can a child have autism when no one in the family even has traits of it??
According to geneticists, all humans have the “autism gene” in their sequence. It just needs to be switched on.
the problem is that most people confuse autism with trauma and don’t know how to recognise someone who’s thriving with differing personality traits and a more sensitive biology. 100 years ago we wouldn’t have needed to diagnose kids who appeared more shy or intellectual. Parenting was different. Society today has increasingly unreasonable demands and expectations that hold intelligent children back a grade if they’re not socialising properly, which is incredibly detrimental to all of society.
Just to be clear, there is no single autism gene. Autism is a polygenic (many genes) trait, like height. In very rare cases it can be caused by spontaneous mutation of a single gene, but this usually results in very deleterious outcomes to intellect.
I'm open to a better way to communicate this term. Complex ideas can be difficult and while some days I'm more articulate than others, occasionally I just cannot find a vocal language for things...
Criticism is much more productive when presented with a better way to express/dp/communicate a thing :)
I'm sure that you will appreciate, as an autistic person who is also a molecular biologist, I could not let an 'autism gene' comment, even one in quotation marks, stand without clarification.
The comment had two objectives. One, the quotes. As in "this is how people like to talk about a complex thing in simplistic terms". Two, the brand new theories are that it's just another part of every humans genetic make up, sequencing strand, if you like. What that means: everyone has the potential to have these differences in 'design' turned on (during formation in the womb).
There are these fundamental qualities when combined in a particular way, which are called autistic that express in billions of different ways depending on the individual.
The problem is, a good part of the population cannot explain the difference between Autistic and Traumatised, which is a shame. In the right environment, one will thrive, just like any plant, animal or other.