It seems that autism runs in my family

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I was diagnosed with ASD (aspergers) just last September. At that time I only knew of my niece from my youngest brother being high functioning (also aspergers). After I was diagnosed I found out that my other brothers youngest son has moderate to severe aspergers.

Recently my mom has suggested that she is where it all started. After a few chats and some thought it made a lot of sense. But when I talked to her about it again the only thing that made even more sense was that her dad (my grandpa) was an Aspie as well. He was one of the quietest people I'd ever known, as well as other things that suggest it. There is no way my mom is an Aspie without it going further up the line to him, and possibly further up the tree. Of course all of this is just suspect as there is no way to confirm what I believe but I'd bet my life that I'm correct.

I'm just wondering how many other members believe, suspect or know that they come from, possibly, a long line of Autistics.

If so, lets here about it.

My son was the first person in our family to be diagnosed with Asperger's. During this time, my husband suggested I probably had this too. Then I started looking at my sister's children because 2 of the 4 are definitely not NT. After that, my mum and dad started making sense. My dad was diagnosed with a personality disorder many, many years ago. He used to spend all of his time absorbed in his interests - computer programming, building electronic gadgets, radios, and photography. He hardly spoke to anyone and he certainly never showed any affection, but I hated all that anyway. My mother has a bit of a reputation for being eccentric. She gets obsessed with interests and almost every day, wakes in the early hours because something is bugging her, like the need to count and sort out her beads or screws or whatever she's interested in at the time. There are many more things. Her sister is much worse and quite vulnerable, she will give things away, etc and get used by people. She only shops at one store, eats the same foods, and is very rigid with routines. Both her and my mum can't even pretend to be normal. I'm not sure how far it goes back but I do know her mother did not show any affection and was a bit on the odd side.

Asperger's runs in my husband's family fairly clearly. The more successful members have it and most of them don't realize that it's Asperger's. The aspie females aren't as career successful and are viewed as "nutty" but still are more popular family members than the neurotypical ones.

In my family, my little brother has HFA, never diagnosed, and my mom and her dad have something wrong with them that I don't think is autism. My mom was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but it's something more than that. I think my mom and my granddad on that side might be sociopaths? It's hard to say past that generation because the way all people were expected to act may have let more aspies blend in.
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My family has generations of people who were not neurotypical.

Curiously, one ancestor from both my maternal family and one from my paternal family has been written up in a controversial books of retrospective diagnoses of famous people. One of these controversial diagnoses is of a grandfather and the other an 18th century person.

That a significant component of many expressions of ASD is genetic is not in doubt.

Almost all of my mother's family is neurodivergent, and my aunt on my father's side is, too.

I also suspect that my brother is BAP.

I have a lot of relatives with classic autism (quite a few are severe), but only on one side of my family.

I would say yes, I have family members on both sides on the spectrum and many that share certain traits.

I am Idiopathic.