Autism common among Ashkenazi Jews?

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Does anyone else think ASDs are unusually common among Ashkenazi Jews? (Most American jews are Ashkenazi.) Many stereotypically Jewish traits are consistent with Aspergers. Of the 11 autism case studies Leo Kanner published, 2 were Jewish (18%). Traditionally, Jewish scholars learned the Torah and Talmud (all 22 volumes of it) by heart. Today, Jews are vastly overrepresented in top universities, academia, and medicine. Coincidence? It is well-known that certain genetic diseases are more common among Jews, the most feared being Tay-Sachs Disease.

It could be. I'm autistic, and families I know seem to have people who have Aspie characteristics Happy Hanukkah folks

My family is Ashkenazi but I'm adopted, so I guess that doesn't count.


Generally speaking, though, Jewish folks are waaay more likely to seek out diagnosis. Just how we roll, culturally.

Einstein was a ashkenazi Jew with Asperger's.

Another autistic ashkenazi jew here. Chanukah sameach everyone

No. I'm not Jewish. Happy Hannukah though. I might have some heritage of it in the past though. I searched my last name and it was on a HATE SITE against Jewish people. Sigh. I'm a Christian but I respect and love my Jewish brothers and sisters.

I'm just a little cautious of stereo-types. Amongst ourselves its fine, but in the hands of NTs its dangerous thinking. NTs love using stereo-types to find more reasons to hate. Its kind of like that Tanja girl on You Tube that went on an Anti-Autistic crusade because of what one individual with Autism did to her. I don't understand it. Everyone is a unique individual regardless of ethnicity, religion, sex, disability, ect. NTs have the most trouble with this.

I don't understand why people hate Jewish people. Because they are successful? That is a stupid reason! I guess my mind is wired differently (duh) because unlike NTs when I see a smart, successful, talented person I genuinely admire and try to learn from them. One of my friends in High School was a guy that everyone hated because he was really smart. He actually almost got a perfect score on the ACTs and SATs. He was a really good friend and I learned a lot from him. Don't understand NTs sometimes. To go to a Bible teaching the first murder was a result of Cain's jealously of Able.

Last edited by Polarisx7 on 14 Dec 2009, 4:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Edward Shorter, in his History of Psychiatry, argues that psychology and especially Freudian psychology was something very much associated with American Jews. Primarily, this was because Freud and other leading psychologists in central Europe were Jewish, and that psychoanalysis gained vast popularity in europe just then the Jews started fleeing Europe, often for America. Since psychoanalysis was specifically targeted by the Nazis as a Jewish invention, these Jews specifically started adopting it as part of their cultural heritage, trying to show that the mass immigration into America was not purely the case of America helping refugees but that Jewish people are also bringing something new to American society, namely psychoanalysis. Being part of their national identity, they then became to dominate 50's, 60's and 70's American psychology both by vast numbers of practitioners and that it became culturally expected for the American Jew to be a psychoanalysis patient.

Assuming the above historical argument is correct (a topic I claim no expertise on, I only report Shorter's argument and note that he is considered a leading figure of history of psychiatry) then it is very likely that more Jewish autistic children back then would have been fed into the system than anyone else. Equally, given that the 70's were less that 40 years ago, Jewish parents who were exposed back then to that culture might likely have more awareness of such matters today, hence more likely to get their child or even themselves a diagnosis. Finally, perhaps its importance between the 50's to 70's has some influence on Jewish identity today.

And...?

That would depend. Did your parents adopt using a Jewish adoption agency? Typically a Jewish child that needs to be adopted will go to a Jewish family. Do you know anything of the circumstances of your birth and adoption?

I've wondered this too

I most likely have Jewish genes through my grandfather, but my family is not Jewish-my grandfather was an illegitimate child of a Jewish man and a white woman, and he was raised Christian and was an atheist for most of his adult life, and my mom-his only child-converted to Mormonism at age 21. I was raised Mormon, rejected it as a teen for atheism, and now tend towards Buddhism. But my grandpa was likely autistic, although never diagnosed, and I am autistic.

I do think it's in the genes, and it has something to do with the Jewish genetic haplogroup. Jews started intermarrying with whites in large numbers in the 1970s, and starting in the 80s there was an increase in autistic births, so there could be a correlation. Also, throughout history Jews have shed their Jewish identity to escape persecution. In the case of the Spanish Marranos, the Jews continued practicing in secret. In Germany it was more common for Jews who changed cultures to assimilate completely within a couple generations. This would also "seed" Jewish traits into mainly German and Polish peoples (less mixing in Russia, but some).

If your roots are in Germany or Poland, as is true for many millions of Americans, you likely have recessive Jew traits. Say you're an American of German descent, and you meet a gorgeous Jewish woman and marry her, and your kids all have autism, well that's why, because the two recessive traits became a dominant trait. My great grandmother was German and in fact eventually married a strong supporter of Hitler, who banished my grandpa from the farm as soon as he could. My grandpa got none of their money when they died. So, German + Jew = autistic babies.

The big question is, did Hitler and the other Nazis somehow understand this equation, and try to eliminate Jews from Europe in a misguided attempt to eliminate genetic diseases from Germany, even if they weren't enunciating exactly what they were doing? Mein Kampf is FILLED with monologues on how Jewishness is genetic ("blood") and can't be eliminated, and how if Jews shed their culture they will still be Jewish, and how Jews are genetically different. Rantings of a madman? Partially, but was he onto something underneath all the weirdness? The Nazis were researching autism in the 1940s as part of ongoing research to prove Hitler's theories. We don't know the full extent of Mengele's experiments.

Yup. Met my birth family when I was seventeen. Not even a little Jewish.

If I didn't know for certain that Jewishness didn't apply to me, I wouldn't have made the statement.

NJ has (or had) laws stating birth mothers could change their mind about adoption for up to a year. After seeing family friends lose their child after raising it as their own for almost a year, they chose to adopt out of Texas --- where the law stated a five day period, instead.

So, by going to TX and asking for little girl with blond hair and blue eyes --- the odds were slim I was going to be ethnically Jewish.

As it stands, I'm at least 1/4 Swedish, and don't really resemble my family in most ways. The yentas liked to stare at me and my parents. I always want to ask, "What, you've never heard of adoption?"

...No... he just hated Jews as they are popular scapegoats and have been, across cultures, for millenia.

And Mengele was just f*****g crazy, and I refuse to really think there was much going on in his mind other than being a sadistic serial killer who got his dream job.


ETA: I am a great example of taking this sort of stuff really, really personally --- even though I am genetically not Jewish one bit. Culture accounts for a lot. Jewish culture is filled with doctors and researchers, and a general appreciation for the medical/psychological professions. We are more likely to seek out care and more tolerant of entertaining psychology/psychiatry than a lot of other minorities.

Last edited by RampionRampage on 14 Dec 2009, 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For a LONG time, an out of wedlock birth to a Jewish woman would be adopted to Jewish parents. Jewish men have been considered less than excellent mate material by Jewish women for a while, leading to a lot of out of wedlock births to Jewish women and white men until the rabbis mostly relented and turned a blind eye to intermarriage. But before then, an illegitimate child of a Jew and a goy would be put up for adoption. If the mom was Jewish, the family would usually demand a Jewish family adopt the child.

Edit: whoops, didn't see Rampion's post...ignore...

Last edited by pezar on 14 Dec 2009, 7:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks, but read above.

Edit .... ER. Jinx? lol
My post and your edit happened at the same minute.

There is no conclusive evidence supporting an increase in ASDs in the 1980s. Research recently conducted in the UK indicates that the rate of ASDs intergenerationally may well be very stable. The slightly lower rate detected in older populations by the research is within the margin of error predicted by the research methodology.


Were they? That seems very implausible to me.