Do you think one or both of your parents have autism?

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I'm beginning to think my mum is more autistic than I am. She hasn't worked for years (she has enough money invested to live on) doesn't really go out and sometimes has difficulty with the simplest of tasks. Also, it's very hard to have a proper conversation with her - it seems like no real meaning passes between us unless we have an argument.

For all I know, the risk of an autistic parent of having an autistic child is different, depending on the gender of the parent who has the disorder. Autistic fathers produce autistic children about 3-5 times more often than autistic mothers (provided that the other parent is NT).
Note: I wrote that before I looked at the poll results. Hmmm, looks like it.
But then females are more skilled at hiding their disorder and their potential desire to spend their time at home with only immediate family might be viewed as something else, so I guess that the difference stated above results from the fact that autistic females are more likely to pass under the radar.

My dad acts Aspie and scored high in the AQ test. My mum has more OCD traits than anything else.

My biological mother was said to be low functning autistic. She wasn't self sufficant and had to live in a group home. She was also said to be neglected as a child and I wonder if she was actualy AS but never had the chance to learn to be self sufficant. She only had me becuase she was raped.


I swear BOTH my adoptive parents have AS. My dad has always been obsessed with weather and despite always being the life of the party, he admits he has never been crazy about socoalizing. I asked him if he could cope without friends as a kid and he said yes. My mom says she was always panfully shy as a kid and she's always had a very aspie mindset when it comes to friendships such as if my friends teased me about my intrests they weren't really my friends. She also played with her Barbies until she was 15. My middle brother probably has AD/HD from how they describe him as a kid. I've read that AD/HD might be part of the autism spectrum. My other two brothers are borderline NT.

I've been thinking about this, and I reckon that none of my parents has autism.

Both of my parents exhibit some traits, but my dad much more so than my mom. He has special interests, executive dysfunction when it comes to certain things and communication issues. He's also very highly intelligent - he tests within the "genius" range on IQ tests.

I have an uncle who has Aspergers.
My dad seems slightly AS, but it's very mild compared to me. He is not diagnosed (and probably wouldn't be).

My mom has a host of mental health issues (and I absolutely dread being around her or even talking to her), but is not AS.

Neither of them have any friends (at least local ones). My dad doesn't even understand their importance, and my mom is just terrible at making them (she's made maybe 5 friends in the last 20 years, and those that are still living are in other towns).

I don't think either of my parents is on the spectrum. My mom definitely has some traits, though. My mom is (probably) bipolar and is known for being very shy but at the same time very protective; my dad definitely has OCD and maybe ADHD.

However, I only found out recently that I have a cousin on my mom's side of the family who is low-functioning autistic, so wherever my autism came from, I can be certain that it came from somewhere in my mom's side of the family.

Nope. My mum thinks both of them have traits, but that's a load of crap, they're both clearly NTs. My dad's just extremely shy and probably has social anxiety, my mum is just a neurotic mad woman.

Nope. Although, one has borderline ADHD and the other is dyslectic.

My mom might have Asperger's. We'll probably never know for sure, because she's not interested in getting an official diagnosis.

My dad for sure!

Of course he was born in 1902 so by the time it started showing it was probably another 30 to 35 years before Dr. Asperger did his work, and another 50 after that before it became recognized as a diagnosis.

Some of what appears to be my aspie traits turn up a lot in the family, but perhaps not in enough of a cluster to be recognized as a diagnosis.

My branch of the family was separated from the rest of my dad's family so things there are very vague, nevertheless from the stories I hear, it is probably they were showing aspie traits.

As to my cousin, on my dad's side, He was always known for his quirkyness and it looks like he qualified.

My first son, (deceased) shows a lot of my traits and made his living as a computer geek. That and other things make him a likely case, however we were estranged slightly then completely shortly before I ever heard of aspergers. One key trait was that although he was quiet and well behaved he was a bully target and not doing well in school, except he excelled in all things computer. He was tested to see if he might have some learning oddity. The letter that came home stated ".... has tested in the 99.9th percentile, please have him see the gifted students counselor at once".

My second son shows traits as well, mostly noticed by his girlfriends and ex. Oddly enough he seems to have exceptional people skills, but he may be doing that primarily based on his definitely very high IQ. At the same time he seems to make some colossal mis-reads of people from time to time.

I've some nieces and grand nieces that seem to show signs, but I am not close enough to them to recognize them if I passed them on the street (but hey isn't that what prosopagnosia is all about, and I have a pretty good case of that) but the signs are there, unfortunately, some of them have other diagnoses which many aspies have recieved incorrectly before getting an AS diagnosis, (I am judging by what I have seen on some of the boards here).

When I was young I thought I was very different from dad, Now that I am 65 and looking back, I see that I am so very much like him, more than anyone else in the family, and the aspie things are the things that stand out the most.

I don't believe autism is genetic in my case. I had a difficult birth. My bubble had broke and I basically wallowed in and ingested my own s**t for two days until I was finally delivered via C-section after 30 hours of labor. I have a good case for a frivolous lawsuit against the hospital.

My Dad definitely is on the spectrum. Never diagnosed, and likely never will be. All of the signs are there though, including many of the same traits that got my diagnosed. Among other things, he's a highly accomplished theoretical physicist who teaches physics to engineering students - Sheldon is a bit of a family mascot.

Nope. Sure, they have odd quirks but neither of them are autism related.

My son, most likely (only lived 50 days, many congenital anomalies associated with Low functioning Autism)
My Sister. Aspergers
Me, Used to be HFA, Lower on the Spectrum now. (Sensory Issues got worse with age)
My Father, Aspergers
My Uncle (Identical Twin) Aspergers, My Cousin, Aspergers
My Grandfather, Aspergers (considered to be a genius in his life's work).
It appears that the syndrome manifested itself in stronger ways in each successive generation .

I believe there is definitely a genetic component, but also some kind of environmental factors that may make it worse.