Is autism genetic? My view.

 

Yes, that is me when I first started secondary school back in the early 80s. Oh my. 

So, I know there has been some debate whether autism is genetic and runs in families. My view? Yes, it is and does. I know of lots of adults who are autistic and have autistic children. I know of adults who were diagnosed after their children were diagnosed with autism; the most known one in recent years being Christine McGuiness. I have Asperger's (yes, I know that's not on the spectrum anymore but it was what I was diagnosed with and I keep that), so did I get autism from a family member? The answer is - I believe from my dad. My dad died in 2019 but it was never mentioned to him and we didn't know. He had other major health issues to contend with over the years he lived but there were clues there that he was autistic. It was only when I was diagnosed in 2011 and was asked by the psychologists if I had a family member who also had Asperger's that we said my dad. 

So what clues were there that he was autistic? Well, the two that come to mind are calling out across the room to others, and he didn't keep eye contact with my mum when she spoke to him (this was when he was in hospital one time). Those are the two things that came to mind when we were asked.

So, do you believe that autism is genetic? Let me know.

My autism event and an interesting question

Yesterday as part of World Autism Awareness Week #WAAW2017 I did an event at my local community library to raise awareness of the condition. I was helped by my friend John Caritas. My author friend, Amanda Lilywhite (Hi, Amanda) came with her autistic daughter and her father as she said she would. We got talking about autism and other things.

Amanda's daughter asked me an interesting question, which I replied, I don't know. She asked me, Why do I have a different autism than her (she has normal autism). I then said it could be genetics as I believe that it is in the genes of our families. (I think I got mine from my dad). I did try to explain using an image of the rainbow, that at one end there is me with Asperger's who can do things for myself which she probably can't, going along to the far end where people can't do things for themselves and have what is called classic autism. This got me thinking about it. I wonder if people are born with different levels of autism in relation to how much autism there can be along their family lines. So, if a child was born with both parents being autistic; one with Asperger's and the other with autism, the child would be more autistic, than say a child born with just one autistic parent.
What would your answer have been? Why do you think people are born with different levels of autism?

Anyway, Amanda bought a copy of Billy from me for her daughter, which I signed. They had to go after a while because of her daughter being autistic. Later on John walked round the library and found a couple of other parents to meet me so I could tell them what I am doing about raising awareness. They had heard of autism, but didn't know about it being Awareness Week. I gave them my handouts about ASD and what it involves for children then adults, and meltdowns and shutdowns. I also gave out cards promoting Billy.

At noon I packed up to go home. I gave the librarian copies of my cards and handouts, because she wanted them as she had told me that people do want to know about it. I might speak to her about this when I see her again in a couple of weeks time.

After this, I decided that my passion is to raise awareness of autism more not by giving talks but by writing guides on various topics to do with ASD such as anxiety and bullying, and maybe sell this together. Yesterday made me realise that people do know about autism but aren't aware of what it all involves, so I want to work on that in all ways I can with my writing.