Aspergers & Birth

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Are people born with Aspergers/Autism?

Yes I think so. Even if a baby or child starts off developing typically and has regressive autism, I still think their brain had already "decided" from birth (or even before) that it's autistic.

Other members will probably explain it better.

people are born with autism in the same way that they are born with the ability to walk

I believe people are either born with autism, or with the predisposition towards acquiring autism.

Just like most all conditions - there are genetic and environmental conditions. I think genetic is very strong in ASD, but then I suspect I have ASD all over my family tree going way back and out - so I am biased.

It’s probably mostly genetic....but not absolutely genetic. Not like Sickle Cell Anemia.

The latest I heard was it's mostly genetic - they tested identical twins and found if one had autism the other had 96% chance of having autism also. The weird thing was that the twins often had autism at different levels of severity and displayed different behavioural traits.
So it's like you're born with autism, but there's a lot of variation in how the autism affects you, and nobody quite has a handle on why that is.

Or from a genetic mutation or whatever. I remember one person telling me that they thought that's why my sibs and I got it despite no family history of it before then.

Yes. Though if all your sibs have it, it might run in the family and not have been diagnosed (especially if on the mother's side or through the grandmother, as women often fly under the radar?)
Often it's the autistics with no other family members affected who have it through genetic mutation, and often they have a more severe form, I think.

I'm not aware of any ASD in my family . My stepdaughter has said though that my father has quite a few similar traits to me . I doubt he's on the spectrum though, as I don't think he'd have managed to get to the diplomatic service equivalent of a 1* general if that was the case .

I wouldn't rule it out based on achievement, even in diplomacy. Really.

Well if he is he's very high functioning . He's certainly more of a head than heart person . Though he's not a total cold fish emotionally .

I know he passed the written exam for the A stream in the Foreign office( so intelligent enough) , but failed the oral though his verbal ability would be several SD above average .

Just to throw a cliche into the mix. He's always been a great model railway enthusiast . For him it's the GWR. That ties in with him coming from Birmingham .

^
I'll go with your assessment (dad high functioning).

Firemonkey, friendly teasing: full of ASD stereotypes aren't we? "cold fish" and "railroads".

Lower relative verbal abilities. I am highly intelligent. My verbal ability is a standard deviation above average, but is a couple standard deviations below my other abilities so is considered a "personal" disability. I get stuck in how to explain things that I see to others. My mom says that Einstein and Newton had the same problem. Maybe Curie if I am to extrapolate.

Ironically, I would suggest that ASD disproportionately high for high (and low) achievers. ASD seems to be at the edges.

No ASD cousins or nephews or nieces? No relatives with ASD traits? My sister claims she is not ASD, but agrees she has traits.

My father had a half sister. I was not aware of her having any ASD traits nor her daughter. I have 2 nieces . It's never been suggested they have ASD traits . However my younger niece had scoliosis . Googling suggests there may be a slight link to ASD .

I believe my brain was bit damaged/enhanced before or after birth. It has neurological signs which also links to uneven cognitive profile.

There is no definitive answer to this but my personal opinion is usually. Most people with classic autism are born with it but then there's regressive autism where the person starts out developing typically then regresses into autism. I was born with it, never regressed.