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I am the Sibling of an Autistic Brother - I am Worried About Having My Own Children

NAS75401

I am the sibling of an autistic brother who I love dearly. I am however very concerned that I may potentially carry genes which I may pass onto any future children of my own. I understand how difficult it is for my brother to deal with his disability on a daily basis and how hard that has been for my parents. 

Does anyone know any other siblings who have gone on to have children of their own? Have you seen a linkage in genetics? The information in the public domain suggests that autism is predominantly genetic with some environmental factors. I have already ruled out Fragile X. 

All the best. 

  • there appears to be 100 of genes involved in autism but it is still very unclear.  

  • The autism gene is not a primary gene, it's a combination of other genetic information, that's why nonautistic people can give birth to autistic children. 

    If you would like to ease things don't press the nonautistic standards on autistic people. If you listen to autistic people themselves you'll see that the vast majority of suffering has nothing to do with autism, but is mistreatment and The Social Model of Disability. 

    It could help to emphasize an autistic person's abilities instead of defining them by what they can't do as the medical model does. Someone quit her position as editor of an education magazine because during her entire 4 years only one article elaborated the abilities and every other elaborated what they struggle with.

  • NAS75401 said:
    I am however very concerned that I may potentially carry genes which I may pass onto any future children of my own

    Better to focus on whether you will be passing on kindness, understanding, strength of character, compassion to your future children. These are much more important than any potential genetic mutations in my opinion. 

  • I have 3 sisters, each has 2 children, and they are fine,

    and it is not that scary to be autistic, of course live kicks you in your a..., but I wouldn't swap it for being a regular human.