Aspies For Freedom

About how a father's age may affect the incidence of autism.

Here is a link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14672767/

Interesting article. My dad was close to forty when I was born. I guess age could damage a male's sperm. If this is the case, it would have to cause other problems as well as autism. However, (as my mom keeps saying) my dad is an aspie, too, so that's how I ended up as an aspie.

I couldn't help thinking which was the chicken, and which was the egg.  I am under the impression that most Aspie's and probably others on the spectrum tend to get married at a later age is average for NT's.  Wouldn't that mean, then, that a higher percentage of older fathers are likely to be Aspie or on the spectrum themselves?

I think you're right "on the money" with that point, DW_a_mom. Have you found a major flaw with some study (I don't have time to read the article)?

The article does qualify the results, with a note that the parent group still needs to be evaluated for other factors, like the rate of autism among the parents in each age group.  So, if there is a "flaw," I think the researchers are well aware of it.

I take exception to the fact that they refer to it as a "mental disorder." It makes it sound like it's a mental illness.

I did notice that.  It seems to be the accepted terminology, although we all certainly can work to change that.  Writing letters to the media that basically say, "Thank you for a generally well presented article.  However, most of us on the spectrum do fnot eel we suffer from a disorder, and would appreciate it if the media could adopt the term "condition" when referring to Autism/Aspergers, instead of the term "disorder," given that the later makes us feel others view us as having a mental illness."  Or something like that

I can't remember if I had other pickings ... I did like that they discredited the mercury poisoning

It's not that I feel that it isn't a "disorder" per se, but the stringing together of the words "mental" and "disorder" bugs me. If they had called it a "neurobiological disorder," I would have been fine with that. Calling it a "mental disorder" puts it in the same category with things like depression and personality disorders.

I did like that they discredited mercury poisoning too, my aunt won't stop harping on that, because she keeps reading sob-stories in women's magazines.  :roll:

I know I'm making this point rather late, but I'd like to point out something about the usage of the word "disorder" in reference to autism/AS.

Everyone should follow the example of Prof Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University in his explicit rejection of the term "disorder" in relation to autism, as in labels such as "Autistic Disorder" or "Autistic Spectrum Disorder". Instead the professor has used the term "Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)", a much more value-neutral and less offensive term. He possibly got this idea from aspies.

If you want to read his explanation of his usage of terminology look at note no 2 in this paper:

http://www.awares.org/conferences/show_p...ll_paper=1

The whole paper is worth a read if you have the time.