• Question: Is Autism purely due to genetics or is there some other reasons?

    Asked by Ayayai to Omur, Chris, Hayley, Jimi on 16 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by H2005.
    • Photo: Omur Tastan

      Omur Tastan answered on 16 Mar 2016:


      Brilliant question! You know the fact that you can ask this question tells me you got great potential as a scientist in the future. You could even become an Oxford University Professor because we have people here in Oxford researching this very same question!
      There are studies to suggest both, so it might be a combination of genetics and the environment. There is still a lot of research to be done and you might pick it up to finish and cure Autism in the future 🙂

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 17 Mar 2016:


      A while ago people thought that it was environmental, and even that some vaccine could have caused it … we now know that the vaccine part is not true. But there is always the possibility that something normally genetic can be caused by environmental factors, and vice versa. Probably it’s different for different individuals.

    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 17 Mar 2016:


      This is an amazing question. Really great. I look at this. Autism has a strong link to genetics and the children I work with have genetic syndromes and have an increased risk of autism too. However, there are also links between the genetics and the environment. One strong theory is that there are genetics linked to it, but the environment we are in (like what life is like at home and with family) can make a different to whether someone has autism or not.

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