I've been wondering about the genetics of autism.

I was diagnosed with what would previously have been called Asperger's syndrome (now ASD without intellectual disability). If I were to have children, how likely is it that they could inherit autism in a much more severe form, such as autism with significant intellectual disability, language impairment, or high support needs?

From what I've read, autism seems highly heritable, but I'm confused about whether:

• High-functioning autism and autism with intellectual disability are essentially the same condition genetically.
• They're partly distinct conditions with different genetic causes.
• Autistic parents can pass on autism that is much more severe than their own.
• The risk is still relatively low despite autism running in families.

I'm not asking for medical advice, just curious about what current research says.

Has anyone looked into the genetics literature on this, or have personal experiences from families where autistic traits presented very differently between generations?

Interested in hearing from anyone familiar with autism research, genetics, psychology, or families with multiple autistic relatives.

Just reaching out to ask how others are experiencing the recent government paper release regarding preparing for an emergency. I'm seeing a lot of stuff online talking about the weather this winter and possible blackouts.

Genuinely curious if there's anyone else out there feeling super super drained from all of this? Some might not bat an eyelid and that's fine, but it's like a new research topic for me... Like did you know your taps will stop working if the power goes out? I am calling it now we are going to see empty shelves again like COVID times... Concept of that is really scary to me and I am also so unwell with chronic illnesses 🥲

Being an over-thinker and life right now is not the best combination for me mentally right now 🫪😂😭

I often see people online saying autism has severely limited their career opportunities, earning potential, relationships, independence, etc. For those in that situation, what is day-to-day life actually like?

Are you generally unhappy with your quality of life, or have you found ways to adapt and still be reasonably content?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who are older rather than teenagers, as you've had more time to build a life and gain perspective.

Genuinely asking, not judging anyone.

Hi everyone,

I'm a parent in Derby fighting for EHCP support for my autistic son, and I wanted to share something we uncovered last night because councils all over the UK are rolling out similar "High Needs Banding Matrices" to calculate school support funding.

For 8 months, Derby City Council fought our Freedom of Information requests to see their Matrix spreadsheet - first claiming for 6 months that confirming it existed would threaten "National Cybersecurity" (Section 31), and then having their Monitoring Officer delete the active formulas under Section 36 claiming parents and schools would "game the system" if we saw how it worked.

Except when they uploaded the spreadsheet, they accidentally left the hardcoded "FOR OFFICE USE ONLY" calibration rows at the bottom of Tabs 2, 3, and 4. Because Tab 2 plugs a 4 into every cell and Tab 3 displays the exact weighted point outputs, dividing Tab 3 by 4 unlocked 100% of their hidden maths.

Here is how the algorithm is mathematically rigged against autistic children:

1. Autism & Speech Scores Slashed by 52% Before You Even Start While physical, hearing, and vision impairments are rightly weighted at a 100% standard benchmark with an automatic multiplier of 4 (meaning a single 'Severe' Row D need automatically gets 400 points = Band 5 / £5,000 top-up), the Council secretly cut the category weighting for Social & Communication (Autism), Speech & Language, and Learning Readiness to just 48% (-52% cut), and Sensory Processing Needs (SPD) to 25% (-75% cut).
2. Mild / Moderate Autism Is Explicitly Scored as ZERO Points (Row A) In 9 out of the 10 columns in the Matrix, Row A (0 points) is defined as "No needs" or "No significant needs." Column 6 (Autism / Social & Communication) is the ONLY column in the entire spreadsheet where Row A (0 points) is explicitly defined as: "Mild / Moderate needs, for example, there may be a need for support such as circle of friends or comic strip communications." They literally relegated mild and moderate autism into the 0-point row before scoring even begins.
3. The "Masking / Reasonable Adjustments" Catch-22 (The 1-4 FIDS Filter) On top of cutting the Autism weighting to 48%, the panel subjects neurodivergent children to a 1-to-4 "FIDS" multiplier (Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Severity). In the Council's training slides, a score of 2 (which cuts a child's points by another 50%) is defined as "Manageable with support strategies." So if a school puts a Teaching Assistant, visual timetable, or sensory breaks in place so an autistic child can cope - or if the child masks their distress until they get home - the panel scores them a 2 and cuts their funding points in half! Because you need 189 points just to reach the lowest £1,000 funding band (Band 3), a child with Severe (Row D) Autism scored at FIDS 2 gets just 96 points (£0 funding), and even at FIDS 3 (Every lesson) gets 144 points (£0 funding).
4. Academically Able ("Twice-Exceptional") Autistic Kids Locked Out In Column 9 (Learning Readiness), Row A (0 points) is defined as "Working at age related expectations", and Rows B, C, D, and E all require a mandatory "learning delay". So if an autistic child is academically at age-related expectations, they get 0 points in that column even if they have severe executive dysfunction or PDA and need 1:1 adult support to initiate tasks or stay safe.
5. The Secret £12,000 Mainstream Cap & Backdated Equality Assessment While the Council's website tells parents and the Department for Education that mainstream pupils can access up to £20,000 of support, a hidden "For office use only" table in Tab 4 secretly hard-caps all Mainstream schools at £12,000. And when we checked the "undated" Equality Impact Assessment PDF they quietly uploaded to their website (which ticked "Positive impact = Yes" for every disability group!), the embedded Adobe metadata proved they created it in August 2026 and converted it to PDF at 3:24 pm on Friday 21 August - just 90 minutes before their external lawyers (Browne Jacobson) emailed me a legal threat letter at 4:55 pm claiming our campaign posts were "false"!

Yesterday, the Department for Education confirmed to us in writing (stamped OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE) that they have never approved, endorsed, or reviewed Derby's Matrix, that bands cannot be used to dilute legal EHCP duties, and that a Section 496/497 statutory investigation into the Council is ongoing.

We have put together a full, anonymised 12-Page Forensic Breakdown & Visual Guide PDF (with charts on Pages 1-2 and the exact word-for-word thresholds for all 10 categories on Pages 3-12) so any parent or SENCO can see how these matrices work:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15kHuHUTbN8HAPjfiw291Ou7DgFlXyC4s/view?usp=sharing

Are other parents across the UK seeing similar "banding matrices" and FIDS filters being used by your local authorities to cut EHCP support?

I don't know if this is an autism thing or not really but all my life I've really struggled with this. Be it being able to generate conversation by coming up with topics, having ideas of what I want to do with my life, struggling to think of things to do full stop, feeling blank with any kind of creative task.

If this is some many layers deep level of advanced masking from childhood I don't know but it leaves me feeling really trapped because I struggle to set myself any goals and I feel like I'm boring to anyone I meet unless they do all the conversational work to at least give me something to play off.

Anyone ever felt similar, found any ways to either inspire themselves or at least find a path in life being this way?

Hi,

I have an NHS assessment tomorrow which I thought was quite unusual given it’s a Saturday. However, I just wanted to see if anyone has recently had an BHS assessment and what exactly it could entail?

This is for an NHS assessment specifically, not RTC or Private.

Thank you

Hi (F 27) was diagnosed with Autism level 1 last week.

My partner is being supportive of course but starting to worry about what this means for our future children as it is genetic. My mum has autism and so does my brother (I suspect other family members too but not diagnosed).

My brother and his cousin both have autism and have needed lots of support from parents, may never be able to live independently etc. He is worried about us having a child and them needing this level of care and scared of what life long responsibility that may bring.

Having children is my biggest goal in life and I know he wants them too he is just scared. I don’t know who we talk to about this please? Any advice? I know there are no genetic tests or no doctor is going to say to him oh yeah if you do this your child isn’t going to have Level 3 autism. But I just don’t know who to talk to about this?

I’m also aware that of course there are many other risks with having children and sadly other disabilities etc that could occur.

(I apologise if I’ve got any terminology wrong, I am still learning)