Should you have kids if you have ADHD or Autism?

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I think if someone wants to have children and they can care for them, then they should be able to have them. If someone decides not to have children because of the risk of passing ASD's to them, then that should be respected as well. I also think that for someone under the age of natural menopause, getting the tubes tied is the best option for sterilization. Not only would you get menopause early, but starting hormone replacement therapy at a young age could put one at risk for breast cancer.

You should watch the Steve Wilcos show or Maury Povich to see some of the NT's that are having kids. I think a lot of people with Aspergers would do a better job raising children.

I'm sorry, but this black & white assessment of the issue is ludicrous.

Why not? We're not inferior. I would love to be a dad someday.

Well I have two kids. Though I didn't know I have autism until last year. One of them also has autism. You might not get an autistic kid, I don't think it's a dominant gene or anything. In my case, my kid with autism is bigger, stronger, smarter, better looking and easier to take care than my NT kid. He's hardly much trouble for me once he turned 2. Does things I asked him to do and can help take care of little brother, too. Sometimes I just can't stop looking at him because he's so handsome. I totally expect him to grow into a useful and responsible person, get a decent job and make lots of money.

Of course this is assuming your autism is mild and can take care of kids OK. If it's severe and you have trouble taking care of yourself, then definitely no.

bolding by me:

Favoring one kid over the other is not ok. Just because he's the autistic kid, rather than the NT kid DOESN'T MAKE IT OK!

Too true-spoken by one of the unfavored.

To me, most of this is a non-issue. I am willing to believe that autism is genetic, but neither of my parents are, nor any other relative anywhere, no matter how far out or back I can go. I'm it!

Two NT parents and, bam, an AS child. So there is no guarantee that anyone will or will not have an autistic child anyway. So, I am willing to accept the on/off gene theory, but there is no way it is hereditary in same way as haemophilia.

So.... I go back to my original post. It is a matter of whether someone on the spectrum can be a good parent. If you can, then breed away.

He didn't say the kid was a favourite. It could just be facts.

One kid in the family got all the positive attributes and the other kid didn't get any? I'm not buying it. I know that attributes are not evenly distributed amongst siblings. But when parents aren't favoring one child over the other, they will state the positive attributes that each kid got. Neglecting to mention anything positve that the NT kid got looks like favoritism to me.

I think it was more to do with disproving the suggestions that were made from the OP that Autistic people, because of their Autism, must be more difficult to bring up and less likely to have a successful life. My parents "favour" (although, I wouldn't choose such a strong word) my brother basically because he is NT and for the things that go with it. It's nice to see that not all parents think their Autistic children have no hope in life.

I didn't talk about my NT kid because we're talking about autistic kids here. I definitely don't favor either of them. If you really want to know. My NT kid is very very kind, sensitive and loving. He loves people, he loves animals and is gentle and sweet. There are lots of attributes a person can have beside looking good and being smart. I believe he'll do great in a job looking after people or animals.

I just thought there's no point bragging about how caring and empathetic my NT kid is here on an autism board. I try to do my best to meet my NT boy's needs, even though I don't understand him as much. I cuddle with him in my bed every night and read books to him, while my autistic kid prefer to read books by himself in his own room. (He doesn't care about body contacts and doesn't pay attention to me reading books.) They have very different needs and opposite personalities. It's up to the parents to discover who they are and how to best meet their needs.

I know someone (a NT) who has a husband who is Aspie, and they have 5 biological children - and they are all NTs, not a trait of AS in them.

But my parents, both NTs, had an Aspie child (me), and a NT child (my brother).

ps - I hope the word ''biological'' means ''their real children''.

i think i would be a good parent to an autistic child, especially if the child had similar traits to mine so i could protect him or her from everything i had to go through with my mom not understanding me.

as for the statistics... it's a well known fact that most prison inmates are christian.
it can then be reasonably extrapolated that most christians are prison inmates.
clearly, christians should not reproduce. the statistics say so!

I say yes. I mean if you're into that sort of thing, go for it...

There should be a poll option for "If you want to, then go ahead" or something. To say "Yes" makes it sound like you think people with autism or ADHD have an obligation to have children, which is silly.

I don't plan on having children, because I'm asexual, but I think it's fine for people with autism, ADHD and other disorders/syndromes to pass on their genes. We're human beings, after all.