Spectrum 10k
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 8:25 am
Simon Baron-Cohen is leading a new project to "investigate genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the wellbeing of autistic individuals and their families" - and is looking to recruit 10,000 autistic people to take part. Spectrum 10k.
Autistic Twitter has not taken well to this. See #StopSpectrum10k. Discussion here.
I don't have an autism diagnosis, but I have many autistic traits. I did actually once spit in a bottle and complete an autism screening questionnaire for S B-C for a study that called for maths graduates with/without formal autism diagnoses. Unfortunately I'm not sure I got everything sent back in the post in time, since dealing with that kind of admin is something I struggle with for reasons I can't logically explain . But at the time I didn't have any qualms about taking part or the aims of the study.
I'm not a researcher, I'm not heavily involved in any autistic community, and I don't know a lot about genetic research. I'm interested to know whether anyone on here has a view on any of this? What could the research team have done differently? Is the project now doomed? Is there a more ethical path for this type of study? A strongly represented point of view seems to be that genetic research of this type shouldn't take place at all because it could, in some futures, lead to eugenics. This problem can't be unique to autism research - are there similar examples in other areas?
Autistic Twitter has not taken well to this. See #StopSpectrum10k. Discussion here.
I don't have an autism diagnosis, but I have many autistic traits. I did actually once spit in a bottle and complete an autism screening questionnaire for S B-C for a study that called for maths graduates with/without formal autism diagnoses. Unfortunately I'm not sure I got everything sent back in the post in time, since dealing with that kind of admin is something I struggle with for reasons I can't logically explain . But at the time I didn't have any qualms about taking part or the aims of the study.
I'm not a researcher, I'm not heavily involved in any autistic community, and I don't know a lot about genetic research. I'm interested to know whether anyone on here has a view on any of this? What could the research team have done differently? Is the project now doomed? Is there a more ethical path for this type of study? A strongly represented point of view seems to be that genetic research of this type shouldn't take place at all because it could, in some futures, lead to eugenics. This problem can't be unique to autism research - are there similar examples in other areas?