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Should people with Aspergers or others on the autistic spectrum have children?

NAS78513

I've got it mildly (officially anyway, I think I might have been wrongly diagnosed, but that's a different story) and it's only got better as I've got older (some experts do think that it can actually go away as you get older, but again, another story). Even so, it has caused me some problems, especially when I was younger. I have no doubt that my life would've been easier without it. Anyway, I sort of want children but sort of don't, for a few reasons, one of which would be giving it to them (if I've got it, perhaps I'm just a little odd lol). What are the chances that they'd get it, and (this is a bit controversial I know) do you think people with it who have children are selfish? It can and does cause an awful lot of misery.

Parents

  • Autism has an important genetic component, responsible for between 38% and 90+% of incidence, depending on the study. This does not mean that the likelihood of any autistic parent producing an autistic child is within these figures, as this is almost impossible to reliably quantify.

    I think that the choice to have, or not to have, children is an inalienable human right. Anything else is eugenics and that contributed to Nazi race theory and other despicable things.

    I am autistic and have two neurodivergent children, one being autistic. They have problems, but so do many neurotypical people, and they are both gifted. They are both musical and play 2 instruments each, the elder is a good visual artist and recently gained a first class degree in audio technology/engineering, the younger is in her second year of a chemistry degree and her lowest score so far is 88%. They are both likely to be net contributors to society and, along with the difficulties, get real joy from life.

Reply

  • Autism has an important genetic component, responsible for between 38% and 90+% of incidence, depending on the study. This does not mean that the likelihood of any autistic parent producing an autistic child is within these figures, as this is almost impossible to reliably quantify.

    I think that the choice to have, or not to have, children is an inalienable human right. Anything else is eugenics and that contributed to Nazi race theory and other despicable things.

    I am autistic and have two neurodivergent children, one being autistic. They have problems, but so do many neurotypical people, and they are both gifted. They are both musical and play 2 instruments each, the elder is a good visual artist and recently gained a first class degree in audio technology/engineering, the younger is in her second year of a chemistry degree and her lowest score so far is 88%. They are both likely to be net contributors to society and, along with the difficulties, get real joy from life.

Children
  • in reply to Martin

    I'm not sure that I agree that anyone and everyone should have children, I'm certainly not suggesting eugenics or anything, but shouldn't people consider the children and how it might affect them, rather than just considering their own desire to have children? Especially for more severe or perhaps deadly conditions. I don't want to try and impose my beliefs on others, but I'm not sure whether I should potentially give my children a condition which does cause a lot of suffering. They might have a lot of joy in life, but as you say, they will also have difficulties. Is giving them potentially even more problems to deal with fair. My parents don't have it (or if one of them does, they don't know about it), but if they did I'd wonder whether or not they should've had me, considering the problems it's given me. This is quite a controversial and offensive to some opinion, I know, but I think I have a point.