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I have Asperger's but my family had no cases of autism

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Joe90
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23 Jan 2020, 5:23 am

I do wish one of my cousins were diagnosed with ASD or ADHD.
My mum says one of my cousins (same age as me) might be on the spectrum but I don't think she is. She has mild learning difficulties and isn't very good at following conversations as an adult, and was in her own world a lot as a small child but despite that, she's always been better at making friends than me, and she doesn't seem to have any anxiety, depression or any other overwhelming emotions. Whatever "symptoms" she does have are probably just part of her mild learning difficulties and not an ASD. But her mum is being assessed for ASD.


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JohnInWales
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23 Jan 2020, 5:30 am

Karamazov wrote:
Danish psychologist (who has Aspergers himself) Christian Stewart-Ferrer asserts that his anecdotal experience from practice is that autistic children are far more likely to have parents who either work in hard sciences or engineering, or tend to think things through in the way those professions favour if not.
This is definitely true of my family, although I don’t know of any formally conducted study.

My Dad was a mechanic and a toolmaker, one of my half brothers (the obviously NT one) was an engineering draftsman, and the other half brother an engineer. They were all very creative in their thinking about engineering and other practical work. I was an accountant, but originally went into it with the aim of becoming a cost accountant, so I could get involved in engineering without getting my hands dirty! I've also done some, very amateur, computer programming, and I'm currently messing around with Arduinos, that involves electronics and programming. So my family history is pretty practical, logical and analytical.



Karamazov
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25 Jan 2020, 3:58 am

JohnInWales wrote:
Karamazov wrote:
Danish psychologist (who has Aspergers himself) Christian Stewart-Ferrer asserts that his anecdotal experience from practice is that autistic children are far more likely to have parents who either work in hard sciences or engineering, or tend to think things through in the way those professions favour if not.
This is definitely true of my family, although I don’t know of any formally conducted study.

My Dad was a mechanic and a toolmaker, one of my half brothers (the obviously NT one) was an engineering draftsman, and the other half brother an engineer. They were all very creative in their thinking about engineering and other practical work. I was an accountant, but originally went into it with the aim of becoming a cost accountant, so I could get involved in engineering without getting my hands dirty! I've also done some, very amateur, computer programming, and I'm currently messing around with Arduinos, that involves electronics and programming. So my family history is pretty practical, logical and analytical.


Similar here, my grandfathers: metallurgist for the nuclear industry & HM inspector of hospitals.

Parents/Uncles/Aunts: Headteacher, School Secretary, Archeaologist, Chef (civilian), Chef (military) & Dressmaker.

Cousins and siblings: Aspergers (unemployed), accountant, warehouse admin clerk, Gardener, Teacher, NHS admin clerk, Chef, Workplace Psychologist, Quantum Physicist & Aspergers (still in school)... and I’m a Gardener.

Lost count of how many past it cars and vans I saw stripped down and recombined to make one that worked as a kid!
... also don’t think any of my family have ever hired an electrician or a plumber: DIY all the way :D