Autistic Adults as Parents Should Autistic Adults Have Kids?

Can an adult with autism be a successful parent? The answer is absolutely yes, under the right circumstances. While a person with moderate or severe autism is unlikely to have the skills to parent a child, many people with high-functioning autism are ready, willing, and able to take on the challenges of raising kids.

Many aspects of parenting can be tougher for moms and dads on the autism spectrum. The reverse, however, is also true; there are some ways in which parenting might be easier if you're autistic (especially if your children are also on the autism spectrum).

High-Functioning Autism and Parenthood

In 1994, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was changed to include a new form of autism. Called Asperger's syndrome, it included people who would never before have been considered autistic. The addition of Asperger's syndrome to the DSM-IV changed the way people thought about autism.1

People with this high-functioning form of autism were known to be smart, capable, and often successful. While they may have had problems with sensory issues and social communication, they were able (at least some of the time) to mask, overcome, or avoid these challenges.

Because Asperger's syndrome didn't become a formal diagnosis until 1994, very few of the people who grew up with symptoms prior to that time received anything like an autism spectrum diagnosis—at least until they had children themselves.