I don't think Autism is a ''genetic'' condition

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Autistic children (on all ends of the spectrum) are born to predominately non-autistic parents.

You have the 15 percent or so of kids with fragile X syndrome or some other syndrome resulting in their Autism but they represent a small number of cases. Most Autistic people have no genetic disorder to explain our symptoms, no extra or missing chromosomes and no Autism in our parental line.

I have gone back and forth on this for years - I once bought into the fact that we must have gene abnormalities of sorts as the media keeps telling us and that was just that. But as I'm going over it again and observing that fact that there isn't much evidence at all to support that it's genetic. I don't think it is.

There is no question that we are born this way but it's not the case of a gene that went haywire. I don't think after all this time, research and money spent they have a clue what causes Autism.

In my case, although I'm the only one with a diagnosis, I definitely do see some specific traits in my relatives that, while I don't think any of them actually are on the spectrum, certainly are traits more common to those on the spectrum.

1) My brother has true perfect pitch - seems likely that comes from the same place as my ASD.
2) My aunt takes absolutely FOREVER to pack a small suitcase, and when she finishes, it is the most well organised suitcase you've ever seen.
3) My mom tells me that my grandfather had some traits similar to me, although ASD wouldn't really have been known in his time.

My Grandmother was never diagnosed but was autistic as all get out. Three of her four children were born autistic, only 2 formally diagnosed. The other says he sees no point in having a piece of paper, he knows and that's enough for him. I'm diagnosed autistic as is one cousin and my son is as well. So if it's not genetic in our family then maybe we are just cursed.

3 generations of autistics in my family.

Autism genetics, explained

Five generations in my family, two before me, two after.

Folks born with sickle cell anemia almost never have parents with sickle cell anemia.
The obvious reason being that if you have sickle cell anemia you don't live long enough to get married and sire kids in the first place. But that doesn't change the fact that SSA is genetic.

Same with hemophelia. The last Czar and Czarina didn't have hemophelia. But the Czarina probably carried the recessive gene that got expressed in her son who did have the condition.

Autistics more often than not don't get spouses and don't sire kids. So the phrase "autistic parents" is almost a contradiction in terms. But that doesn't negate the possibility that it could be genetic.

Like most things its probably genetic whether its a straight recessive gene or its a co-dominant trait with multiple genes I don't know but I would be very surprised to hear it anything other than genetics.

I found out years after I suspected that I'm autistic that I have a mutation in a gene that can cause seizures and also seems to have a strong connection to autism. I am what is called mosaic meaning that some of my genes are mutated and some are not. This also means that the mutation is de novo, non inherited, started with me.

"The findings, published Monday in Nature Neuroscience, add to mounting evidence that mosaic mutations contribute to autism risk. These mutations arise after conception; the later they occur, the fewer cells they affect."
https://spectrumnews.org/news/large-stu ... ns-autism/

I have three close relatives confirmed on the spectrum and an aunt may have been, but she was never diagnosed.

I think it runs in some families but not others.

Autism has genetic/heritable components.

But it's not a purely genetic/chromosomal condition like Down Syndrome.

It has many causes. Some of which could be "inherited." And some which definitely are not.