How many ND people are in your family?

[ofwarren]

I have ASD, as does my eldest son and my middle child has just been put on the waiting list for assessment.
We know there is a hereditary link to neurodivergent conditions and it made me think. There are 3 others in my family who are diagnosed, 1 is my brother, the others my cousins and there are a lot of people who I reckon would get a diagnosis if they went for assessment.

Are there many neurodivergent people in your family?

@StopStartStop

We could say to people "What's wrong with you? Stop making all that eye contact!" We could have special rooms with bright lights, garish colours and things moving, for the NT minority, while the rest of us had quiet places to soothe our active minds. Food would never touch other food on a plate, and textures would bear warnings - 'Spinach - warning, green and slimy!' 'Waterproof fabric, don't touch, will set your teeth on edge!'

This really made me laugh
It would be amazing ha ha

@StopStartStop

We might turn out to be the majority...

....and then we will rule the world, mwah ha haaaaaa!

No more noisy neighbours
No more fluorescent strip lighting
No more boy racer exhausts that rattle the world or excessively noisy motorbikes
No more open plan offices
No more schools where ND children's needs are ignored

And best of all people would be banned, banned I tell you, from all talking at once meaning you can't actually hear any of them!!

@ofwarren

There must be so many neurodivergent people in the world. Does anyone know the predicted stats of how many they think there probably are? I wouldn't be surprised if its 1 in 3 or something like that. There are far many of us than people think.

I think this too. There's been such ridiculous pressure, especially in education over the past thirty years, for everyone to conform to some standard norm. But life used to be so much more flexible. You were allowed to be good at what you were good at, fail at what you were bad at, find your niche and flourish in it. I hate the endless pressure to be what we're not. I tell DC not to mask too hard. It's exhausting. And why bother? Find people who connect with who you really are instead.

Of the five of us in my generation, three are diagnosed ASD. Of the six in the next generation, three are diagnosed ASD.

On my side its only my paternal grandmother, dd, ds and I who have asd (she was adopted so don't know about her birth family).
Ds's dad, uncle, grandad and 1/2 brother (and ds) all have ADHD which is probably why ds has both ASD and ADHD

I honestly don't know. There are no young people in my immediate family and I'm not in touch with wider family. My sister and I are the youngest and we were born in the 70s when there was far less awareness of neurodiversity - essentially none of us are of an era when it would have been likely to be picked up in an average working-class UK family and I am only now seeking diagnosis at the age of nearly 50.

Thinking of my family with what I know now, my dad possibly has some ND traits, but there's nothing that leaps out in anyone else.

My Dad is deff ND I have dyslexia, pursuing an ADHD dx after supporting my dyspraxic & ADHD son. I am one of 3 sisters, middle one is fine or good at hiding, her son is ASD my other sister has an ASD dx when 42 in States. My mother was very ND traits but she's dead so we will never know. I think that my parents "got" each other and when they got divorced they never had another relationship with anyone else - they both said that they were their only love.

I am NT as are most of my family

We think my youngest dd (aged 14) has ASD.
On my dh's side, 2 of his nephews have ASD. When they were diagnosed dh's sister (their mum) got herself tested and she has ASD.
dh probably doesn't have enough to merit a diagnosis but he certainly has some traits, and at times I use same strategies with him as with dd!

We talked about dh's parents. His mum died a long time ago, my SIL is convinced that she was on the spectrum. Dh's dad is 80 now, but I would say he is definitely on the spectrum, I thought so before my nephews got diagnosed.

dh's dad was one of 10 children. They are a definitely an unusual family, very set in their ways, very old fashioned and all long time committed members of a very traditional church. I used to think that they were that way because of the church. After we had been talking about ASD I wondered about all of them. I suspect that most of the 10 siblings were on the spectrum, and that they like that particular church because it is so structured and predictable and it suits who they are. It has made me see the whole family in a new light.

and made me much more understanding of them.
So yes, pretty much dh's whole family.

Weird answer here. Myself and DD are Neuro diverse. Mum is absolutely in denial, but ticks many boxes. My biological father is dead, but his brother was definitely Neuro diverse, but was also diagnosed as schizophrenic. His sister had 5 Kids and has gone 'no contact' with four of them because they were diagnosed with either Autism and / or ADHD and were "too difficult to deal with" She only keeps in contact with her precious first born son who apparently 'isn't difficult'

My younger bro is classic autistic, diagnosed young. I'm pretty sure my dad is autistic. I suspect my mum ADHD. I suspect I'm autistic. I've got a cousin who was diagnosed ADHD.

My late GM on my mother's side and I suspect my dad, but I only thought about it after he died. GM and Dad got on like cats in a sinking sack and had some very similar tendencies.
My DM and DB are NT but neither of my sons are - DS1 more so than DS2. I also suspect my DH and my FIL.
DH has a cousin who has autism and LD and I think he lives on a supported farm - there's a village in North Yorkshire that is mostly this farm for adults with LDs.

Diagnosed - Dh, Dd, Ds, niece on my side
Undiagnosed but obvious - Me, my mum, father in law

In my experience it's definitely a hereditary link, though me and a second cousin are the only ones diagnosed, in my case with autism and ADHD. Two of my siblings are strongly suspected, my niece is considering getting assessed, three of my cousins have strong traits, my great grandparents were incredibly likely to have been autistic and my mother probably has undiagnosed ADHD if not autism as well.

It's the same in my friends' families. One of my friends is autistic, as is his father and brother, and he also has ADHD along with his mother and sister. Another of my autistic friends has a brother with ADHD, and a friend who is both autistic and has ADHD has a brother who is also autistic with a strong family history of being 'quirky', so likely undiagnosed.

I've only ever known one, maybe two people who had no familial link.

4 DC all either diagnosed or awaiting diagnosis - ADHD/Autism. 3 likely have EDS, 2 likely dyspraxic. Bit of irlen syndrome in there too, possible dyslexia.
They have a cousin on my side who is autistic also.
We love our ND world and due to some anxiety/agoraphobia experienced by a few of the kids we don't get out much and so can limit our NT interaction
I'm fairly certain I am ND haha and once the kids are all sorted I can concentrate on me and see what comes up. Sister and I are fairly sure either or both parents are neurodivergent too

I'm an autistic, eldest is too, next has pda and asd next 2 have asd and youngest has adhd and asd. Dp has asd and adhd, sister has asd, dads on Both sides not diagnosed but would fit asd

Mum has ocd (diagnosed) and some grand parents would have had asd if it was diagnosed back then. Do's grandparents also had and have traits

If anything, it's been easier for subsequent diagnosis, we did the genome project that was going on a while back and smallest was studied as an ongoing project for children with asd siblings

It's definitely genetic

All children alos have EDS as does dp, I'm the opposite of hyper mobile