Thread

1. mlboss · 1789596855 · focus · HN ↗

   > Autism is genetic. You’re born autistic and you’re autistic for life. Most autistic people are autistic because of genes they got from their parents. This is why autism often runs in families. Much less commonly, other factors can play a role, but usually in combination with genes from parents. There isn’t a single ‘autism gene’. Thousands of genes combine to make a person autistic. Scientists have identified many of these genes, but they think there are still many more to find. And there is no genetic test for autism. We don't fully understand how genes combine to make a person autistic. It is complex and no simple test can give an accurate answer. Genetic testing cannot predict whether a child will be autistic or not, and it can’t be used to diagnose someone as autistic.

   Autism is genetic but we cannot do genetic testing and prove that you have autism. Seems like a very circular reasoning.

   1. asveikau · 1789598085 · focus · HN ↗

      Some of what you've quoted highlights my own belief on some of this:

      Autism is also multiple things.

      That may provide some insight about how there is not a "single `autism gene'" and how they hedged a bunch of these statements with "most" or "usually".

      Maybe some day when we as a species understand brains better, some people will get a more precise label than "on the autism spectrum".

      1. xp84 · 1789598885 · focus · HN ↗

         > Autism is also multiple things.

         This rings true to me. As someone with an autistic loved one, I obviously think about it a lot.

         If it were as simple as there being some simple genetic basis that gives you a single thing called autism, I would expect it, honestly, to have naturally died out long ago, just because it makes so many things harder for people that it cannot possibly have not had a disadvantage to reproduction.

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