Anyone REALLY knoweldgable about feminism that cares to discuss it's role wrt ASD?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Okay. I'm not intending to upset anyone, and yes, I'm probably quite insane wrt this but I wanted some views on this theory.

Some of you know that I believe that stressed-out mothers, and inhumane labours 'triggers' autism in babies with a genetic predisposition. This is because of the hormone Oxytocin that is essential for bonding, love, social interaction etc. is lower in stressed mothers, and supressed by adrenaline during pregnancy and childbirth.

This has not been researched. It probably won't be. Who would fund it?

Okay, with me so far?

Now, I have read some alluded to statistics (not found the source yet) that suggests in Afro-American families there is a prevelance of just a sixth of the number of caucasions diagnosed with autism. In American Indians, it is half. These two societies are matriarchal.

I'll carry on only if I get a few bites............or anyone's interest!

And surely twins have an identical pregnancy experience.

Tbh it does anger me that these theories always come up specifically in relation to autism, as opposed to any other condition/ disability. Why is it so hard to accept that in most cases ASD was likely there at the moment of conception, in the same way Downs is?

And I come back to the point that surely most mothers experience some distress in labour. The pain isn't fun...we don't all find it an orgasmic experience a la Davina McCall.

And in the third world mothers must find it very tough giving birth a lot of the time and I'm not aware of huge autism rates in those countries

I don't think British society is very patriarchal any more - or at least not when compared to others (Saudi, where women are not allowed to drive, and only just got the vote). I was in total control of both my birth experiences, but then that's probably cos I was a big career woman at the time and had the money to pay privately. I can see it would be different in the NHS.

I argue even with DH about this, but I don't even really believe in the environmental triggers - I just think it's genetic, but that the genetics are hard to pin down as there are 100 autisms and not just one. To date, and even though I have hundreds of autism mum pals, I have never met one single autistic kid who is the same as my boy. It's as if they all have totally different conditions - I think we are going to discover eventually that what we call autism is in fact a load of loosely-linked conditions, sparked by different combinations of defective genes affecting the brain. The Autism Genome Project showed some findings like that, but of course none of us know for sure yet.

And as an aside, I believe every society on earth is currently patriarchal

I'm on the train. Supposed to be preparing for my presentation on breastfeeding next week, but making myself unpopular on hear instead

I'm on the train. Supposed to be preparing for my presentation on breastfeeding next week, but making myself unpopular on hear instead

Justa, it does exist. I'll try and find it for you. In fact that is one area of my teaching that I'm keen to get right and be good at. I felt at my own class with my first that natural birth was the idea and anyone who was having a c/s was dismissed as an 'oh well, nevermind!' which I think is an outrageous way to be treated and why I am careful to always refer to it as a cesarian BIRTH.

Justa, yes but stress was shared. I think the difference now is that we are more 'anxious' and that this is shameful and isolating.

Lol. Tbh I prefer to be focusing on the emergency c-birth because I think that has most potential to do damage if it is out of kilter with expectation and the mothers perception of her body.

Anyway, gotta go now and watch the trainspotters on Peterborough station, and work on my presentation, then have the weekend doing something different -yay.

I'm truly upset if I have upset or offended anyone here. I'm not attempting to suggest that I can get to the route of ASD when there are plenty of people working in this research field. It was really just a general discussion that I wanted to open and hear some views, which I have and it has given me a lot to think about so thank you.

The Romanian orphans suffer attachment disorders as standard due to their living conditions. A few may have asd, FAS, or other disabilities as well. They are often dumped in the first place beacuse the poor things are seen as "defective". ASD education is actually light years ahead of our own over there providing the child has a family that keeps them and cares.

I've done a LOT of reading on this topic, for personal reasons, and am getting really irritated at the damage a bit of poor semantics and American pop pyschology is causing. The most successful therapies for asd and attachment disorders are different.

Lets please focus on pushing neurological science forwards, not backwards or with all the cuts and the current media attitudes to disability the authorities will just blame us and it will be harder for our kids to get access to the help they need than it already is. The refridgerator Mum was disproved a couple of decades ago as being too simplistic a cause. There are still those who believe the earth is flat, let's not join them.

A preemie baby isn't getting the same nutrition as a child still in the womb is, kangeroo care is becoming the standard for stimulation. The brain isn't fully developed when the child is born, (yet docs currently focus on maturing the lungs).

I'm very much in agreement with sickof in that I firmly believe that asd is actually a whole range of DIFFERENT conditions with a myriad of causes. Unpicking that tangle will help no end with helping all our grandchildren.

Starlight, I think you have a very rosy view of the past. Whilst NT people in the past might have supported each other a bit better than they do now, I think hostility towards anyone showing any major difference was hugely greater - communities would often quite ruthlessly ostracise anyone who didn't fit in with society's norms.

Lenin, I had a similarish experience to you with my first so know exactly where you are coming from. I fought for and won the right to an elective for my second as a result.

But again Lenin, I would argue a cultural and patriarchal context to even the best labour prep.