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 wonder how long it’ll be til people start wanting pre-natal tests for autism so they can abort if traits are present.

And in my sons case it isnt which is why i said it doesnt necessarily mean its inherited .

That was, of course, largely the reason the Spectrum 10k research was shut down.

I can see this.
our youngest is being diagnosed with autism atm. Nothing he does or says is unusual in our family, on both sides of grandparents, though to us, his parents. He just has the combined odd traits of all of us, like he is the super version of all our not typical traits all rolled into one human.
He is also pretty amazing and his differences just make him more brilliant

iif you’re saying that you think autism is routinely misdiagnosed, tbe answer to that is no. The
government has commissioned an independent review on this and they have already said on their interim report that they don’t think is a major problem.

DD needs a lot more support in school than I ever got (and I was diagnosed in primary school), but I honestly can't work out if this is because her autism is more severe than mine or because the school system has changed to be more challenging for autistic people. My DF was also clearly autistic, but no one thought much of a white working class boy leaving school at 14 with no qualifications back then. As it happened he managed to find a job that aligned with one of his special interests and did well until he retired and it all fell apart. I'm not actually entirely sure how he ever managed to get my DM to marry her though, as he had little interest in doing anything with her (and us when we came along), but again that wasn't that out of the norm for men back then.

There are attachment and post-traumatic disorders which present almost identically to autism and the differential diagnosis can be very difficult.

I’m sure.

Again genetic and inherited are not necessarily the same thing
And prematurity may bring its own issues thst can exacerbate autism traits

I knew this thirty years ago when my son was diagnosed and we realised that a lot of his traits being "just like his father" were autistic traits. Shortly after, his dad got a diagnosis too. Years later I realised I was autistic too. Not only me, but my brother's and my dad. There has been a double gene theory, which I totally believe in, because my son has more traits than the rest of us.

There’s limited research to say that autistic people have different/ out of balance gut bacteria. I think it should be more extensively researched despite not being politically correct, but potentially, if there was a way to neutralise their gut bacteria, would autism exist?? It’s an interesting topic I think should be studied extensively and trialled to find out to answer. We don’t know it right now. Could autism one day be diagnosed by stool samples? It’s interesting.

Source:
https://research.uhs.nhs.uk/news/children-with-autism-may-have-different-gut-bacteria

Im not autistic and neither is my dh
Our son is severly sutistic with severe learning disabillities
He has a chromosome deletion thought to be the underlying reason for his complex disabilltis these can be inherited from a parent but they havent in my sons case both me and my DH have been tested we dont have the deletion so its De novo in my son
There is a clear genetic cause but its not inherited .

There isn't an increase in people with ASD, just diagnosis. It's because it was overlooked for decades. My dad was clearly autistic but never diagnosed. He would have been 93 if still alive. I have autism as do two of my brother's.We're all in our sixties and it wasn't diagnosed when we were children.

I wonder about this too and I’d like to see more research into this area.
I’ve thought it was genetic for a long time but I notice that many adults with autistic traits seem to be having children who are much more disabled by their ASD as kids/teenagers/young adults than their parents were

I wasn't diagnosed when I had my autistic son 35 years ago.

You can have permutations of a gene without any symptoms presenting (as in fragile x - inherited but the parents don't usually have the syndrome, and indeed a father with fragile X wouldn't be able to pass the full mutation on, because X...).

Autism often not linked to only one chromosome anyway, usually an array of genes from different chromosomes seem to be involved (except perhaps when it occurs alongside Fragile X, or Williams, PTEN mutations, copy variants, 15q deletions... Some of which are technically inherited, some randomly occuring during cell division in the early stages).

It's likely because the trait is in both parents. I'm autistic and so is my ex husband. Our son is much more affected although he is verbal and very intelligent. He is unable to function as an adult though.

Are you absolutely sure? I didn't realise I was autistic until I was around 50 years old. I had spent all of that time masking.

Sorry, I hadn't read this.

Absolutely - people who only think of Autism as the type which can be late diagnosed don't generally want to think about the Autisms linked to chromosomal disorders, which can occur randomly.

Am I absolutely sure about what?

Same!

Yes i know that
But i have been tested and so has my husband we do not carry the same genetic mutation as my son its De novo in him.@

Some genetic conditions have what is called variable expression, so people can have the same genetic difference but it will look different in each person. There are definitely some genes known to give a susceptibility to neurodevelopmental difference but again this can look different in each person.

If a genetic difference is inherited it can present differently within a family.
some people have a brand new genetic difference that no one rise in their family has, but any children they have will have a chance of inheriting that difference.

Never in any ethical country.

It's genetic but it's triggered.

You can have two people with identical genes and one can be autistic and the other not.

We need more work on what the triggers are to try and avoid them. In ADHD, also genetic, childhood trauma is a known trigger.

Sorry i posted before i read your updates