Autism is genetic

[jonesonscam]

The National Autistic Society has just said something pretty significant: Autism is genetic. Not “possibly genetic”. Not “we’re not really sure what causes it”.

After reviewing 83 research papers, the NAS is now stating definitively that autism is genetic. You’re born autistic and you’re autistic for life. Most autistic people are autistic because of genes they inherited from their parents.

I think this matters enormously because for decades, autism has been surrounded by nonsense about vaccines, parenting, mothers doing something wrong, pregnancy, diet and a million other things.

It has left parents blaming themselves, and autistic people being told that something caused them to be autistic that could somehow have been prevented.

There isn't an “autism gene”. Thousands of genes are involved, and genetics is complicated. But the basic message is now remarkably clear: autism isn't something that happened to someone. It's something they were born with.

That matters because when we stop looking for something to blame, we can start looking at what actually matters: understanding autistic people, supporting them properly, and making a society that works for them.

This all feels like a pretty important shift.

I don’t disagree with autism being genetic but can I ask a question please. If a child that’s born very prematurely say 25 weeks is later diagnosed with autism and there is no family history of autism, is it still genetic? As in, can being born prematurely on its own cause autism without the genetic predisposition? Sorry if I’m being a bit thick

The vaccine crowd drive me around the bend. My DSis was diagnosed as ADHD at the age for 5ish in the seventies (as a girl). I have recently been diagnosed as AuDHD (born 1969) as a result of supporting my own 2 children through diagnosis. I didn’t receive any of the relevant vaccines. It is quite clear from the social history of my mother, father and their siblings [and my maternal grandfather] that ADHD - at the very least, but likely also autism - was glaringly evident in their generations and seriously impacted the way they lived their lives and parented (addiction, alcoholism, compulsive behaviours such as spending/collecting and being in debt, eating disorders, a transgender uncle 30 years ago, and criminality).

My generation (sisters and I) have been able to ‘work with it’ and be successful because of our understanding of the traits, the strengths our wiring brings to intellectual and creative endeavours, and taking steps to mitigate and manage the negatives (burnout, RSD, impulsivity, recklessness with money). Ie., It’s always been a part of my family’s DNA, and I’d love to understand about the epigenetic factors that might favour expression, but with a 100% hit rate of neurodivergence across 4 generations, I wonder whether looking into this may just be a way to frame autism/ADHD as ‘bad’ and thus something to be avoided - rather than accepting that it is a natural dimension of the human cognitive spectrum?

It’s the speed at which the world has changed that has cause ND to ‘be a problem’ when really it just requires a recalibration - for ND and NT people, and society at large.

There are obviously ND people who are limited by the presentation/expression of their condition, but often this is in interaction with many other co-morbid factors resulting in LDs that severely, negatively impact their lives. But there are also many people with physical disabilities and/or LDs who are NOT ND, so I wish we could explore and discuss this without reductive perceptions of ND that often focus on poor behaviour in schools, IEHPs, and PIP claims!

My understanding is… it’s a combination of factors so a genetic element needs to be present too? I’m not sure though. Also, I don’t know how you could confidently say there is no family history of autism for any baby.

I’ve been a teacher for about 26 years. I don’t think I can ever recall having a pupil with autism in my class where I haven’t met the parents (usually the dad) and thought ‘Ah. That’s where they get it from.’

This is not true. It's purely economic (the only other circumstances being if families are military, or the child has been in care). You might be thinking of the EHCP, which usually post-diagnosis also attracts extra funding.

I also believe this is widely known information.

Do you? Why is that? Do you think ‘another’ condition which presents similarly would be better than simply understanding autism? Weird. Please do explain why you jumped on a thread about autism to ‘wonder’ if all the autistic people are in fact simply presenting as autistic due to ‘modern life’ - I am fascinated to hear more…

Do you know any ND parents who have had kids with no ASD traits at all?

Amongst friends with ND kids I can see where it came from - and often they are clear about it too - so I am wondering if it is always passed on?

(DIL to be and one of her parents have acknowledged ASD - all fine. But I will be honest and say that the possibility of them having a child with a non-verbal, no possibility of independent living version of autism is a concern)

That's congenital (present from birth) which encompasses genetic conditions as well as conditions which occur during the foetal stage or at birth (like most cerebral palsy).

The association with prematurely is an interesting issue to raise.

Personally I think that the ICD 10 concept of Autisms plural is closer to reality than the current paradigm that it's all one condition and a spectrum but the spectrum isn't a line , rather it's a galaxy, or similar...

So I wouldn't be surprised if, whilst Autism is generally genetic, there are exceptions in which its congenital but not genetic - prematurity being one.

Not on the note of prematurity, but some children who actually have Reactive Attachment Disorder are misdiagnosed with Autism - they might form a part of the population who another poster feels have Autism caused by being in care during their early years. In the past before "kangaroo care" and skin to skin for premature babies this might also have been a factor for premature babies who spent many months in hospital, but wouldn't be these days.

I have 2 cousins who have ASD. To my knowledge unless they're bloody good at masking I don't think either parent has it

Interesting, thanks for the clarification around congenital conditions coming under genetic conditions

Came here to say this - it really detracts from the points OP is trying to make when they are so obviously AI-generated

Genetic doesn't mean directly inherited from a parent.

Some posters seem to believe it does.

Most characteristics are the result of multiple genes interacting.

I do believe this is covered in GCSE biology...

Yes. I already found the link but I went through the thread to see if it had been posted. And here it is thanks, well down.

I have no stake in this at all. I have no view. I just wanted to say that this does not appear to be anything new. I can't find their paper where they describe their review, what papers they looked at etc. Nothing like that. I just think it would be good if they had.

You know, for when confronting anti vaxers and the like. It would be good to have a definitive document to refer them to.

Other way around!

But I am asking the opposite - can parents with a multi-generational history of ASD have NT children?

It's definitely something you are born with. Four of my son's cousins have autism. Some were diagnosed early on, others (girls) it didn't become apparent until late primary. I have traits and lots of my relatives have traits although it was something I didn't think about until my son was born.

Maybe it is cos the trans coolness has gone now and being autistic is the new thing. If so I am sooooooooooo on trend finally!

You’re not being thick and it’s a really interesting question. One I’m not remotely qualified or able to answer but I’m happy to discuss my opinion on it!
I have worked with adults with autism who were extreme prem babies and had no ND family. I’m sure it could be genetic, but maybe the autism diagnosis is based on their behaviours, so from the perspective of the persons I am talking about, rocking/flapping/obsessive behaviour but also incontinence and learning disabilities. So maybe had the learning disabilities not been so prevalent they’d have had other ways to express themselves, in the way trauma is often diagnosed as autism because of similar displays of behaviour.
I have ND kids 4 of them all varying degrees and my partner and I are also ND just diagnosed later in life. He right now isn’t at work today but sat next to me doing a spreadsheet on pokemon he thinks one of the young lads he has in his home would enjoy learning about, but ultimately he is a 40 year old man doing a spreadsheet about pokemon when he could really be doing something else on his annual leave but because he has no learning disability he slipped the net, he presents the same as one of our DC who was flagged quite early on. We didn’t think he was doing anything unusual because we thought we were just typical.
It’s such a pain that autism is such a big spectrum and there isn’t a something like a mutated gene that could give a diagnosis because then supporting people would be much easier if it was for trauma or maybe something like foetal alcohol syndrome.
Lots of people with Down’s syndrome or fragile X also have autism diagnosis, as do lots of people with no genetic disorders. It’s just such a huge spectrum I suppose it can affect anyone. I’m not sure I’ve made sense here and it’s only my opinion. ADHD which goes hand in hand with autism can be caused by trauma. I wonder if that will be looked into more. And also I wonder about inherited trauma, so a lot of the people I know who’ve had shitty childhoods, DV growing up, extreme poverty or dealt with lots of bereavement have gone on and had ND children when they themselves weren’t picked up on as being ND.
That said, bi polar/BPD/MH issues were what women were told they had for many years. I discovered recently that my great grandmother was placed in an asylum. Judging from my grandma and mums behaviours, there is definitely a line of ND.
I have always thought autism as a genetic disorder but I’m not averse to thinking some people will be given that as a diagnosis because the way they’re going to receive support is going to be beneficial if they’re given support for autism, such as FASD, they’re so similar it’s probably easier to cover all bases and say it’s both. I think with autism keep a open mind always, years ago it was all about the triad of impairment, nowadays that’s outdated, we’ve recently discovered it’s not as male heavy as thought, women just mask. We just need to accept that we will always learn and adapt to new guidance with it imo

Coolness?

You are sooooo wrong

How can a developmental disorder be a trend?

Not necessarily. Things can happen in the womb that have little or nothing to to with genetics, eg DC2 was born with a chest infection.

I do wonder, and would be interested to know what others think, if the severity of autism also gets worse with each generation. I have only noticed this anecdotally but for example parents of my generation (millennial) with autism in the family seem to be having children with much more severe autism, non verbal, violence etc. I have noticed this in my extended family, amongst friends and on MN, where posters with autism manage to hold down jobs, have got married, had children etc but their children's autism means it is unlikely they will ever live independently. Just a musing really

Sarcasm.

Nobody actually knows how the genetics of Autism work, in part because the big project (Spectrum 10k) to identify this was paused and then shut down.

Even dominant genetic conditions generally only have a 50% chance of being passed on to any one specific offspring though.

https://www.genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk/genotes/knowledge-hub/autosomal-dominant-inheritance/

Are you sure? My brother's psychiatrist asked my mother if there was any autism in the family. She was telling me this and said that she couldn't think of anyone. I told her that Dad was clearly autistic and she was astonished (despite being married to him for 50 years). One of his Cousins is also autistic and his grandfather sounds like he probably was. However, if you asked my parents they would say that there was none in the family.