Quakers and Autism

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Here in the UK where I live it seems the numbers are quite disproportionate compared to other faith groups. Possibly, because of the silence combined with the acceptance of difference.

In my little meeting in Hastings, a quarter of the overall regulars are in the spectrum. At my previous meeting in Westminster, there was again, a large number of us.

That is really interesting

Seems unlikely that one Protestant denomination would have more genetic propensity for autism than other Christian denominations. Though its not impossible.

Like you said it might be that quakers are just more accepting of autistics, or it could be that Quakers tend to be some kind of more affluent strata of society that gets better medical and psychatric attention than do other religions in the UK.

Or maybe its just a coincidence that congregations that you personally got involved in have more autistics.

Or maybe Brits view church as a good place to "baby sit" autistic folks regardless of denomination.

Who knows?

Yes. The Amish are rather inbred. And to a lesser degree so is a bigger group: the Ashkenazi Jews (the main Jewish population of both Eastern Europe, and of the USA, and the dominant group in Israel). A Jewish buddy of mine even said that "we Jews are all like second cousins to each other". Tay Sachs ( a hereditary disease) crops up among that group. I am not aware of Quakers being more endogamous than other religions, but they probably are not less so either. All religions want their kids to marry within the faith. But some are more adamant than others about it.

Over the centuries being in small and very xenophobic group that only marries its own can have genetic effects I suppose.

British quakers might be more insular than American Quakers.

I'm of the understanding that the Quaker belief is that God is experienced by the individual in the way they see fit, not via a strict and inflexible belief system. The idea that prayer is to be experienced in silence, in the way best understood and preferred by the individual.

That type of religion makes a lot of sense to me, as an ex-Catholic who left the Church due to disagreeing with the rule set and the necessity of bits of the ritual. My favorite part of being a Catholic was a practice called Adoration where many people would pray in silence together. That was a far more spiritual activity for me than the Mass, but attending a Catholic Mass weekly was mandated, where Adoration was optional.

If there was a religion based around the concept of something like Adoration without the need to follow a strict set of rules that cannot be changed as scientific understanding of the human condition evolves, I would attend the ceremonies.

That, to me, sounds basically like what the Quakers do. Unfortunately, there aren't any gatherings near me.

Yes. I have always been a bit drawn the Quakers, and their style of worship. In fact I went to a Quaker run summer camp when I was a kid.