To think autism gets worse with each generation

[eastereggg]

Genuine question.

Why does it seem that autism gets worse with each generation?

Example: a mother is a late diagnosed autistic but her child is very clearly autistic and displays much more severe characteristics than she did. The grandmother would probably be diagnosed autistic today as well.

There seems to be a recurring pattern that I'm seeing where autism is getting more severe with each generation. Is there an explanation for this?

this is interesting and true in my case too.

I think schools were harsher in punishments, conform or get smacked!

The masking would have been high. Kids were lonely and more likely to committed suicide - marriage was more transactional.

Look at the source of the info he is citing. It's impeccable. Always, always look at the source.

And societal pressure was stronger. So acting out would be suppressed in previous generations. People, particularly women masked and it ‘came out’ in other ways- addiction, Valium, depression etc.

I am in my early fifties. At my junior school of around 300 there one no one who had one to one support. One boy in my class would struggle with sitting still and was thus considered naughty. I think there was probably a lot of masking going on and more children in specialist schools.

Less masking as it becomes more acceptable?

Weren't there studies done years ago with silicone valley folks and marrying each other

@Ceecee2422 but autism is known to be genetic, so unless every family member is ingesting the same things throughout history then that simply isn't the case.

For families where you can see autistic traits throughout all generations in living history whether they had a diagnosis or not that isn't environmental.

Air Quality is better in the UK now than it has been for generations.

And again with the diagnosis means we are rolling in benefits. My older son is 22 and can't go out on his own or be home alone - so yes, he does get high rate PIP, and I do have a car for him. I get Carers Allowance - that's £81.90 a week, woohoo! £81.90 for being his carer all day every day. Obviously I get more than that as I get UC, but even that has the carers allowance deducted as it is seen as income.

I don't get PIP myself, and my youngest wouldn't get DLA or PIP either (at the moment I still get child benefit for him and UC child part)

I think this is the most likely answer, honestly.

I’ve definitely noticed this having worked with autistic children. I have noticed that their parents often also present as likely autistic but with fewer challenges, and more likely to “pass « as NT. I know of one family where there are now three generations (that I know of) of ASD, with subsequent generations having more severe problems.

Having a disabled child is associated with significant additional household costs, and lack of access to suitable childcare, which frequently impacts adversely on maternal incomes. People are impoverished by disability given the lack of support, and the burden that falls on individual families. But here you two are happily stigmatising the families of disabled children.

It’s interesting how resistant people are to the idea that autism might be on the rise and how insistent that it’s simply better diagnosis or less masking, when our understanding of then causes of autism is still fairly undeveloped- we know there’s a genetic element but we also know there’s more to it than that.

The reason I struggle with this a bit is it suggests that different brains are defective or malfunctioning. I appreciate where there are co morbid learning difficulties then one may say there was something that happened genetically that was not ' optimal' ( I have no idea which word to use here that isn't offensive and horrible).
There are many people that are ND that I would see as superior thinking in multiple aspects. Alot of the difficulty arises in trying to operate in a system which is actually fucking nuts. Excuse my language.
I am NT yet see how nuts this school system is and always has been. Actually, it's probably even worse now. I worry about societal norms and expectations and then impose that on my own child sometimes.

I recently felt very upset with all the struggles my child has at school. In my mind I look at being Autistic as the issue. I wouldn't feel that way if the systems we lived in were not so rigid, completely ridiculous and robot conveyor belts. I'm triggered even talking about it 🤦🤣.

And I know the whole autism is a superpower is really annoyed and don't buy into that.

I think today's children have so few boundaries and autistic children struggle with that. Boundaries have got more lax as the generations have gone on. Life today is also frenetic and multi-sensory.

I don’t think children have less boundaries now. Children used to be able to wander about by themselves, it’s far more rigid now.

Not sure its worse. Decades ago, boys would've been put in borstal, girls would've been slapped into submission and masked thereon.
I think people just accepted quirks back then amd didn't seek to label people. Severe autism i suspect people would've been put into some kind of learning disability home, amd God knows what happened then.

It does seem that way in our family

Myself diagnosed as a adult
Oh diagnosed as an adult.

Each have a dd from a previous both girls are autistic but very able and don't require much addition support outside social skills.

We then had 2 children together.
Ds autistic and is academically behind. Also has PDA unable to access a mainstream school or curriculum must be taught in a play based way. Requires full time care and when was in school very much was on a minimum of 2 staff to him ratio. And struggling to find a provision that can meet his needs due to the PDA

Dd (Youngest) autistic with global development delay. She is non verbal. In a special provision

We never suspected any of the children until after the youngest was born. We certainly would never of had the youngest if we had suspected our son. Both oh and I wasn't diagnosed until after the children were either

Yep. What a pair of gullible fuckwits.

As a ND mum of a severely nd child who attends sen school with a magnitude of issues and genuine social problems which include inability to access public transport unless he's got 2 adults with him and he needs a handling belt etc we aren't entitled to mobility help and my kiddo has done some shocking damage to himself and me when out in the community.
He has a mobility buggy and will need a wheelchair when he's too large for the big buggy.
I see it (not just on mumsnet in fairness) that people with children who are on pathways as teens or aren't anywhere near the level of unable to cope as my ds is with transport and walking that all these people have mobility cars. It has to be bollocks. Why would the dwp hand out mobility cars to the parents of autistic kids who can (not without struggle but still are able to get a bus without trying to put the window through with their head) when children who cannot use transport don't get cars? You do have to prove that your child needs a car. You can't just say they do. I was able send huge amounts of evidence from professionals and school regarding my ds incidents and injuries and the specialist equipment we need for him and they're still adamant my son isn't entitled. I was able to show them a report from school that resulted in a ambulance being called for my ds after being upset by a very small change. I just think there must be more afoot than what people getting cars are telling you, maybe they're playing down their children's behaviour?

Whilst I'm an open book anonymously with friends I dont share my sons behaviours because they're his business. It's not his job to educate people on autism through me telling people who know us how fucking devastating some days can be

I have a friend who has held down a steady job and successful relationships. He was diagnosed in adulthood. Both his DC went to special schools. One will never live independently. He has really struggled with it.

No it is known to have multiple factors not just genetic and a main reason of cells mutating in an abnormal way is also environmental factors, as has been proven with Cancer, Dementia, Alzheimers, the cells always start abnormally mutating as they do in the brain with Autism.

I guess you hear about certain cases more. Ive got Asperger's which is now known as autism as a child I was extremely lonely and known as the "weirdo". My child isn't autistic and is extremely popular and confident, basically the polar opposite of me as a child.

I’m speaking in a scientific sense, in an autistic brain the cells have mutated to work differently than in a brain without. I don’t mean any offence by it.