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> People who would never have survived childbirth or early childhood in previous generations are surviving nowadays at historically unprecedented rates. I have

> People who would never have survived childbirth or early childhood in previous generations are surviving nowadays at historically unprecedented rates. I have seen studies that correlate c-section deliveries with a somehat significant increased chance of autism, so that would track. I was born by csection myself, and both myself and my mom would have died if that wasn't an option. I've never been evaluated for and am not diagnosed with autism, but given the broadened DSM criteria, it's possible they would have tested me and labeled me with something like that if I had been a kid today. Instead they just settled on "speech disability" and put me in weekly speech therapy for all of elementary school. I'm not sure if having a permanent disability label on me from a young age would have been a good thing to be honest.

rightbyte 1y ago
> I have seen studies that correlate c-section deliveries with a somehat significant increased chance of autism, so that would track. I think older age of mothers are correlated with both?
- sudosteph 1y ago
  As I mentioned in another reply, heavy birth weight is another stat somewhat significantly correlated with ASD diagnosis that could correlate with c-sections. Interestingly high birth weight seems to be more common in mothers in their 20s.
  - nradov 1y ago
    High birth weight is also correlated with gestational diabetes. There could be some metabolic or hormonal intersection with autism here.
nis0s 1y ago
There seems to be a relationship here, as shown in this paper, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5837358/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5837358/ I am skeptical of the idea that a CS itself produces any conditions for ASD. But it would make sense that those who would have otherwise died during child birth and survive are now likely to change present health demographics. Honestly, a lot of autistic people are doing well in life, and in fact many are doing better than their neurotypical peers. Autistic traits need to be understood better because they provide better understanding of human cognition and its functionality.
- sudosteph 1y ago
  In my case, I came out 2 weeks late and was little over 12lbs (~5.5kg) when I did. Apparently birth weight over 9.5 lbs is also correlated with higher rates of ASD. That would be my guess as to why c-sections show a correlation.
  - WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
    My First and Fifth are autistic. All births were full term. 1st 8lb. 2nd 8lb, 3rd 10.5lb, 4th and 5th 6.5lb ea (twins). None were c-section. First 3 were home or birth center, last had to be hospital. My wife had good BMI for the start of each pregnancy.
    - BrandoElFollito 1y ago
      I do not really understand what conclusion to draw from this. A friend of mine has 8 childen and none are autistic. All were born at the hospital (this is where you give birth in France), all were notmal weight and so was the mom (and dad)
      - WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
        I believe the conclusion is things like birth weight and mom's bmi aren't primary drivers of autism. What led to increased diagnosis of autism was evaluating more kids who had autism.
- em-bee 1y ago
  it's not that a CS causes ASD but that children who have ASD are more likely to need a CS, and the availability of a CS allows more children with ASD to survive, and therefore an increase of CS births correlates with an increase of ASD
Tireings 1y ago
It doesn't has to be a disability just because someone is different from the majority. Majority is just the average
- Loughla 1y ago
  It's a disability if it impacts one or more major life function. Otherwise it's just an answer to a question you might not have even known you wanted to ask. I'm sure I would've been diagnosed autistic as a kid instead of just difficult. Not sure it would've changed anything. I still would've been very strong willed and confused about why people around me say one thing but do a different thing. I think what would've been different is maybe other people's reaction to me?
  - squigz 1y ago
    > Not sure it would've changed anything. I think the biggest benefit to diagnosis is both the parent and the child are able to draw on resources for those disabilities - learn about coping mechanisms, get advice from other autistic people, etc. > confused about why people around me say one thing but do a different thing. I think it importantly helps shift this confusion from the framing of "Is something wrong with me?" which a lot of young autistic people feel
    - Loughla 1y ago
      I never thought there was something wrong with me, maybe that's the difference. I communicate extremely clearly. Most people do not. They say half of what they want, or ignore half of what they read/hear. It's very odd. Life is much easier (read: less complicated, not more pleasant) when you communicate as if the other person isn't actually reading your thoughts and emotions. That applies for neuro- typical and divergent people equally.
- tbrownaw 1y ago
  Well sure, "disability" doesn't mean "different", it means "less able to do certain things".
- 1y ago

rightbyte 1y ago

> I have seen studies that correlate c-section deliveries with a somehat significant increased chance of autism, so that would track. I think older age of mothers are correlated with both?

sudosteph 1y ago
As I mentioned in another reply, heavy birth weight is another stat somewhat significantly correlated with ASD diagnosis that could correlate with c-sections. Interestingly high birth weight seems to be more common in mothers in their 20s.
- nradov 1y ago
  High birth weight is also correlated with gestational diabetes. There could be some metabolic or hormonal intersection with autism here.

nis0s 1y ago

There seems to be a relationship here, as shown in this paper, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5837358/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5837358/ I am skeptical of the idea that a CS itself produces any conditions for ASD. But it would make sense that those who would have otherwise died during child birth and survive are now likely to change present health demographics. Honestly, a lot of autistic people are doing well in life, and in fact many are doing better than their neurotypical peers. Autistic traits need to be understood better because they provide better understanding of human cognition and its functionality.

sudosteph 1y ago
In my case, I came out 2 weeks late and was little over 12lbs (~5.5kg) when I did. Apparently birth weight over 9.5 lbs is also correlated with higher rates of ASD. That would be my guess as to why c-sections show a correlation.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
  My First and Fifth are autistic. All births were full term. 1st 8lb. 2nd 8lb, 3rd 10.5lb, 4th and 5th 6.5lb ea (twins). None were c-section. First 3 were home or birth center, last had to be hospital. My wife had good BMI for the start of each pregnancy.
  - BrandoElFollito 1y ago
    I do not really understand what conclusion to draw from this. A friend of mine has 8 childen and none are autistic. All were born at the hospital (this is where you give birth in France), all were notmal weight and so was the mom (and dad)
    - WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
      I believe the conclusion is things like birth weight and mom's bmi aren't primary drivers of autism. What led to increased diagnosis of autism was evaluating more kids who had autism.
em-bee 1y ago
it's not that a CS causes ASD but that children who have ASD are more likely to need a CS, and the availability of a CS allows more children with ASD to survive, and therefore an increase of CS births correlates with an increase of ASD

Tireings 1y ago

It doesn't has to be a disability just because someone is different from the majority. Majority is just the average

Loughla 1y ago
It's a disability if it impacts one or more major life function. Otherwise it's just an answer to a question you might not have even known you wanted to ask. I'm sure I would've been diagnosed autistic as a kid instead of just difficult. Not sure it would've changed anything. I still would've been very strong willed and confused about why people around me say one thing but do a different thing. I think what would've been different is maybe other people's reaction to me?
- squigz 1y ago
  > Not sure it would've changed anything. I think the biggest benefit to diagnosis is both the parent and the child are able to draw on resources for those disabilities - learn about coping mechanisms, get advice from other autistic people, etc. > confused about why people around me say one thing but do a different thing. I think it importantly helps shift this confusion from the framing of "Is something wrong with me?" which a lot of young autistic people feel
  - Loughla 1y ago
    I never thought there was something wrong with me, maybe that's the difference. I communicate extremely clearly. Most people do not. They say half of what they want, or ignore half of what they read/hear. It's very odd. Life is much easier (read: less complicated, not more pleasant) when you communicate as if the other person isn't actually reading your thoughts and emotions. That applies for neuro- typical and divergent people equally.
tbrownaw 1y ago
Well sure, "disability" doesn't mean "different", it means "less able to do certain things".
1y ago