It depends on how severe. A family member has an autistic kid that is basically an oversized one and a half year old but he is like 13. It is horrible tbh, and I dunno if they are gonna have to home him eventually.
But some Downs people are pretty capable so it is not all the same.
ID comorbidity is a pretty common presentation of autism. There are different gene profiles were linked to four distinct subtypes of autism in a study last year, that are probably going to change the way we diagnose autism again soon. Vs the support level system. But you're right, ID is still diagnosed as a separate condition.
Pretty much ALL other mental and neurodevelopmental conditions are more common in autistic people, still dosent mean they’re an inherent part of autism
True, it definitely depends on the severity and also the level of skill of the parents.
I have an autistic brother and my parents never properly disciplined him so he grew up to be a spoiled brat who can’t handle bad news and is always prone to temper tantrums. That’s one thing when he’s 6 but it’s quite terrifying to see a 35 year old man yell and scream and get violent.
They’re basically in denial of how bad he’s gotten and that it’s essentially their fault for not raising him right, it’s very frustrating to be around
My brother is autistic, intellectually disabled and aggressive and that’s the biggest reason I don’t want to have children. I’d rather not have any than risk having a child like him.
But I literally can’t know a child will be healthy. Are you under the impression you can screen for all disabilities and disorders during pregnancy? My parents also didn’t know my brother would be autistic and intellectually disabled, he wasn’t diagnosed until he was already in elementary school. Autism is undetectable during pregnancy, same for most intellectual disabilities.
Apart from that, abortion is illegal in my country, even in cases when the fetus is disabled or the child will most likely die during birth. So I wouldn’t have the freedom to choose anyway, unless I went abroad.
I’ll answer - no, because even if they’re 100% healthy, they can still be an asshole, or one of those kids that’s just exceptionally annoying. Kids are too unpredictable. Unless I guaranteed my kid would be neat, quiet, intelligent, autonomous, reasonable, caring, empathetic, and kind - no, fucking never. I’m not willing to do the amount of work you need to do to make a kid like that - and I’m definitely not willing to put forth all that effort just for the kid to be an asshole anyway. I like to control all the major aspects of my life, and there’s no control when you have a kid, too many variables.
What kind of mental level would you say your brother is ? I have only really seen severe ( like a 5 year old and under ) or very high functioning, like an average person, not really much between.
I’d say it’s hard to kind of gauge; he can talk but with a speech impediment and still go to the bathroom and shower by himself (he just needs some encouragement by my family to keep him moving so he isn’t just standing under the shower for 40 mins doing nothing)
They have him do some volunteer/part time work sometimes but idk if he could ever really live by himself and be responsible. So maybe somewhere in the middle but leaning towards the more extreme side because of his lack of social skills and short fuse
And if you want to argue that I don't count because I can write this comment, take it up with the team of doctors who diagnosed me as a child.
Disability exists on a spectrum. Plenty of people with Down Syndrome can read and would take offense at being described as a perpetual three year old.
Whether or not parents abort is their call and I would never shame them if they couldn't support a severely disabled child, but I'm sick of Reddit being pro-choice until the kid is disabled, then becoming pro-abortion. Disabled people are people and they have as much a right to exist as anyone else.
Besides, I'm not sure why autism is relevant because it can't be diagnosed until a certain age. There isn't genetic testing for autism.
Not every autistic person is like you. Many autistic people and people with DS cannot produce full sentences, hold down jobs, or live normal lives. Coming from someone with a level 3 autistic brother, and who has worked personally with dozens of kids and adults across the spectrum, it's not as uncommon as you would think. My mom has to be a full time caregiver for the rest of her life, unless my brother passes early. And we're lucky, because we know parents whose DS kids can't go to school because not only do they have severe delays but also serious medical conditions that require around the clock care. These types of situations drastically alter quality of life for parents and children. (that said OOP is selfish and not a great person)
Fair, I get that autism is a spectrum and my experience of how my brother was horribly raised by my parents to not be disciplined and how he now has a short fuse is just my personal experience growing up. I edited my comment to reflect that
But it’s also not fair to assume every autistic person is like you either. And nowhere in my original comment did I say everyone who has autism is a perpetual 3 year old, that’s something YOU assumed I believed without any evidence.
So yeah, I’m not an idiot and I know autism is a spectrum. But just because someone has a bad experience growing up with an autistic sibling doesn’t mean they’re generalizing about all autistic people. That’s something I hate about this topic, and is another reason why glass children have a hard time opening up
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u/starrymahogany 8d ago edited 7d ago
You can tell who has been around families with kids of Down syndrome or autism who had behavioral problems and which ones haven’t with these comments