Autism and Your Future

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Wouldn't it be hilarious if Aspie traits turn out to have an evolutionary ADVANTAGE? With so many historical examples of outstanding Aspie and autistic achievers, OP must be just guessing (or projecting) when he comes up with his assumptions.

I for one have always been very pleased to be alive, and in my small way have justified taking up space on our planet.

Fnord's example is more the exception than the rule. Although I would say that there are more ways to be productive than how Fnord describes his children. I don't have any of those things, but I have done worthwhile things and contributed in my own way.



I am 43 and I do not have children. I went through a period of wanting children, but as with driving I decided that parenting would be more responsibility than I wanted or possibly could cope with. But that's a decision people have to come to on their own.

There aren't very many examples of "outstanding Aspie achievers", people just assign the Aspie label to people they idolise, even those who clearly aren't autistic.

It is not guesswork to see that the vast majority of autistic people are disabled by their Aspie traits. Even the 1/6 Aspies who are able to hold down a job tend to have social issues that make them less likely to reproduce, and if they do reproduce, likely to do so with a less successful mate, which has further implications for their offspring's reproductive success.

Personally, I have a preference to not have children, because I imagine I'd be a terrible parent, and if I do have a child, I would prefer to just have one, because I would have strongly preferred to have been an only child.

Walrus! The strongest wish of an only child is to have siblings, - someone to identify with and to rebell against parents with, - and someone to share parent-focus with! They can only focus on one at a time

I don't identify with my younger brother, and we don't rebel together- if anything, we see our parents as allies in our struggle against the other brother. My older brother is much older (26), and I guess I don't mind him too much but he is out of the way- when we were growing up, he lived with his father in Sussex, and he now has his own flat and spends a lot of his time working abroad.

The same here. My brother (12 years older) lived with his father. I grew up as an only child, thinking of him as some kind of uncle. We never got really like siblings. He too had a life with much traveling. Only after our mother died, we got closer. He was ill, and I wanted to show him my affection (he had been my idol), so I assisted him any way I could, until he died from a kidney disease 3 years ago. We got a bit closer, but we never got past his anger over me "having" our mother.

I'm more inclined to agree with you. Most of the aspies I've witness seem to be far more limited by an accurate model for behavior than any genetic impairment.

I'm having kids, it's not even a question at this point, the question is simply will I intentionally marry a female aspie or an nt one.

why is the assumption that being neurotypical always makes you a better parent?

If anything i find being ASD has had certain advantages. My girls are fascinated by my special skills and love watching me paint my pictures.

And the basis for such a broadly sweeping statement is what, exactly? Fnord's a statistical outlier, and exceptions don't prove rules.

I think the problem with your question is your assumption that everyone with an ASD is poor, misunderstood and discriminated against. I actually view my AS as a gift more than anything. What I lack in social skills I make up for with an amazing gift in engineering. This gift earns me a nice 6-figure income and my unique perspective on solving engineering problems earns me respect from my peers. Don't get me wrong, things are definitely not easy for me and I struggle to keep jobs but I do OK.

I was lucky enough to meet someone who actually liked me because I was "different". We now have 3 kids together. Our son was recently diagnosed with classic autism. I know he'll have his struggles but I know that he'll also be capable of great things. Having children was the best decision I ever made.

He's at best simply on one end of the bell curve not an outlier.

My guess is that he's quite typical of the undiagnosed category, and I'm not getting in some debate on stats for people that can't get diagnosed.

If he's at one end of the bell curve, it's likely an extreme end. There are a few others on here who are in a similar category, and some who no longer post, but they are not the majority.

You probably shouldn't get into a debate on stats, because existing statistics paint a fairly easy to find picture that does not match up with your expression of wishful thinking. I am probably more typical of the undiagnosed category than Fnord is. And that category would include people for whom diagnosis is economically inaccessible, due to not having jobs or insurance, unless they seek benefits.

The notion of an undiagnosed population of autistic people who are all successful university graduates with five-six figure jobs is largely a product of imagination. Most people with autistic traits who would have these features are more likely to be BAP, but not ever diagnosable as autistic. This would be evidenced by the fact that they are not experiencing significant impairment in daily life. Some who are in that category (degrees, high-paying jobs) who are diagnosable do experience impairment. I know Fnord does, as he's described it. Another I recall was experiencing poor performance reviews because of her inability to network or interact socially with other employees - but that ended when she received her diagnosis, and her employers stopped counting her social skills against her.

Anyway, you can argue that there are an infinite number of affluent autistics dancing on the head of a pin all you want, but that won't make it true.

Since it's adressed to me, I'll be fair enough to admit I never read this, wish you well though.

A. I don't find myself in the position of wishing I had never been born.

B. Life is tough on everyone and having kids is always a crap shoot regarding how they will turn out.

Wasn't really for your benefit.

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