Why Autism Genetics Research Is Still Important

It’s not all about eugenics.

Some genetic stuff going on

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The counteragrument

Those who are against researching the genetics of autism (and sometimes any and all autism research for that matter) tend to have three main concerns when it comes to this kind of research. The first is that more precisely discovering the causal mechanisms behind the condition will lead to a mass abortion of autistic fetuses simply on the basis of said fetus testing positive for autism. Furthermore, those who fall into this camp of genetic research opposition often cite the high frequency at which pregnancies involving Down Syndrome are terminated in some parts of the world, claiming that given the chance, many people would choose to engage in the exact same eugenicist behavior given a fetus with a prenatal autism diagnosis. The second reason is that an outsized portion of autism research funding overall goes into finding the biological cause of autism compared to research on how to better help and understand autistic people who already exist. This somewhat follows from the first reason in that a significant portion of this research into biomarkers also seeks to find cures and squash the natural diversity within our brains. Finally, we have the issue that large…