For the first time, a UK charity supporting autistic people has stated definitively that “autism is genetic”.
The National Autistic Society (NAS) said the declaration comes in response to “false claims about autism in the media and politics in the UK and the US, which are spreading harmful lies” and detracting from the issues autistic people face.
The charity’s research team looked at 83 studies on the causes of autism, and concluded from the findings that “autism is genetic” and “most autistic people are autistic because of genes they got from their parents”, which is why it often runs in families.
They added that it isn’t to say other factors don’t play a role, but these factors are “usually in combination with genes from parents”.
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English (US)