There's a reason the human genome project hasn't found the gene for it after decades of searching - it doesn't exist. The best we've done is find a few weak correlations, and I'll allow that these probably play a small role in predisposing children to autism, as does being male.
But the lion's share of blame rests with neglectful mothers. It isn't necessarily malicious treatment, just neglectful. The reason autism rates are rising is that we live in an increasingly narcissistic society and a narcissistic mother is often just too self-absorbed to care much about anyone else, including her children - read some /r/raisedbynarcissists for mindblowing stories about this. There may also be resentment toward the child for the body changes associated with pregnancy and childbirth for a narcissistic woman who places high emphasis on her body, which may help explain why rates of autism are higher for firstborn children.
We learn at a phenomenal rate as infants, so much and so fast that if we miss the window of opportunity to learn certain things we never get another chance. I remember reading somewhere that if an infant were blindfolded for the first three months of life and then had the blindfold removed, it would be blind for the rest of its life.
Think of an infant getting adequate maternal attention: mom's friendly face invites interaction, they babble back and forth at one another, there's plenty of eye contact - all things autists struggle with. Now imagine an infant without these things... it will take note of "things" in the absence of people, eg. that it has 6 stuffed animals, or that there are 28 books on the bookshelf - stuff autists tend to notice. We have strong evidence that nurture (rather, lack thereof) is at least a factor from the Romanian orphans referenced in the Time link below.
We didn't evolve with easy distractions such as TV, shopping malls, iPhones, etc. and so we didn't evolve countermeasures to being extremely neglected during the crucial first few months / years of life. Even in the case of maternal death the tribe would look after an infant. It's only now in the modern, western, suburban world that a woman can put an infant in a crib and ignore it as she focuses on herself.
The "refrigerator mother" hypothesis which gained popularity in the 1940s only fell out of vogue in the 60s-70s due to pressure from feminism and its assertion that women are perfect and may never be criticized. The actual evidence against it, as well as evidence for a genetic cause of autism, is scarce. Science has been shamed into losing its objectivity here, as is so often the case. For example cannabis is only now escaping stigma and prohibition based on a few flawed studies, and the studies which have recently shed light on the substance were restricted for decades, if allowed at all.
At almost 40 years old I'm too ancient to have ridden the aspergers diagnosis wave, but I'm positive I would have been diagnosed if I were 10-15 years younger. I was severely abused and neglected by my two moms throughout childhood, and while I obviously can't remember my infancy, I have no reason to doubt it was much different from my later childhood which I do remember. We're comfortable with teaching "him" (IOW, every man and boy) not to rape, why can't we have campaigns to teach "her" not to abuse and neglect her children? Regardless of whether I do have aspergers (never bothered seeking adult diagnosis), and regardless of whether the neglect I endured caused it, a campaign like this could have really helped me.
Some very interesting further reading for those inclined:
Measure of a Mother’s Love: How Early Neglect Derails Child Development (Time Magazine)
The Image of the Mother's Eye: Autism and Early Narcissistic Injury (Max McDowell PhD)
Autism, Early Narcissistic Injury, and Self Organization: a Role for the Image of the Mother's Eyes? (Max McDowell PhD)
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Submitted November 14, 2014 at 10:08PM by AutismCMV http://ift.tt/1zVJEMm changemyview
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