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alexfromnorway
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19 Apr 2011, 3:42 am

I have been thinking about donating my sperm for a long time. Wanting to reproduce is normal, all living creatures have that drive, it doesn't matter if you are a moose in the woods, a rich businessman, a sports star or an aspie, like me. I am proud of my genes, I have no health concerns, my grandparents are all living despite they are more than 80 years old, I am intelligent, great at maths (I placed 3. in a national contest once), good looking and pursuing a successful career. I have decided that the positive traits are covering up for the "Aspie" ones. The only thing that stands in the way is the fact that I'm an aspie. I think a lot of women would prefer my sperm if they heard about the traits mentioned above. But I am worried about being denied for being an Aspie? Do you Think they can do that?



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19 Apr 2011, 4:09 am

Being female its not a problem I have come accross but speaking personally it wouldn't bother me. I'd be more interested in your medical history i.e, if you had heart probs, cancer that sort of things.

I don't know about sperm donation but when you donate blood they ask you 4 pages of medical questions but nothing about autism/aspergers etc.

If its something you really want to do then why don't you enquire further? Simply email a clinic and ask if being a aspie bars you from donation. If not, then just be honest on the form, say you have aspergers but also list all your other qualities, which I am sure are many.

You have then be honest and its then for recipient to decide.


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Subotai
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19 Apr 2011, 4:38 am

I'd like to donate sperm too as a way of spreading my genes around



Callista
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19 Apr 2011, 4:45 am

They won't let you do it. You have to fill out a form that says whether you have any medical conditions, and autism pretty much rules out that you'd ever be accepted.

I mean, they rule you out if you haven't got a college degree, if you're fat, if you're gay, if you have a family history of baldness... You really think they're gonna let an autistic guy donate? Uh-uh. Remember, autism is a big scary bogeyman. :roll:

Seriously, though, I wouldn't recommend it. Your sperm has a good chance of making an autistic child, and there's a very good chance that the parents would be NT. They will be less prepared than parents who are genetically related to the child and have similar traits, and less prepared than adoptive parents, who understand that the child will not be quite like themselves.

If you want a child, you should raise the child yourself. It's one thing to donate sperm when you're NT; quite another to donate it when you're autistic and autism is the target of heavy prejudice. You won't be there to protect that child if they turn out to be autistic like you.

Also--if the parents found out you knew you had autism and you lied about it and donated anyway? You'd be in serious trouble. They'd sue you for all you were worth.

Relevant news article:
Autistic children linked to same sperm donor


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Last edited by Callista on 19 Apr 2011, 5:00 am, edited 3 times in total.

John_Browning
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19 Apr 2011, 4:48 am

alexfromnorway wrote:
I have been thinking about donating my sperm for a long time. Wanting to reproduce is normal, all living creatures have that drive, it doesn't matter if you are a moose in the woods, a rich businessman, a sports star or an aspie, like me. I am proud of my genes, I have no health concerns, my grandparents are all living despite they are more than 80 years old, I am intelligent, great at maths (I placed 3. in a national contest once), good looking and pursuing a successful career. I have decided that the positive traits are covering up for the "Aspie" ones. The only thing that stands in the way is the fact that I'm an aspie. I think a lot of women would prefer my sperm if they heard about the traits mentioned above. But I am worried about being denied for being an Aspie? Do you Think they can do that?

ASD people reproducing is a huge case of genetic Russian roulette. You can have kids that turn out average or you might have a savant that overcomes great obstacles and does well in life, but there is a HUGE chance of having LFA kids and it would be prudent to seek genetic counseling. I'm sure there will be someone posting after me who will drastically downplay the complications on the infertile couple that gets the embryo, but most people here apparently don't have 5 minutes experience looking after a severe LFA kid.

I'm not belittling your physical and mental fitness, but you do need to take into consideration that you are carrying a set of DNA that is likely to not duplicate itself nearly as well for the next generation, and that's why you need to take lots of time to put extreme care into any decisions you make about reproducing.


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Callista
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19 Apr 2011, 4:59 am

So LFA is a walking tragedy now, huh?

Look, some of my friends are pretty "low-functioning" (by which I mean they need aides to help them every day), and they are on average as happy as the "high-functioning" people I know.

I might agree with you if you said, "Hey, don't go and donate sperm that might give an unsuspecting couple an autistic child they're not willing to love." But your reasoning is, "They might be LFA"? Uh-uh. Not cool, dude.


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Subotai
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19 Apr 2011, 5:00 am

Callista wrote:
So LFA is a walking tragedy now, huh?

Look, some of my friends are pretty "low-functioning" (by which I mean they need aides to help them every day), and they are on average as happy as the "high-functioning" people I know.

I might agree with you if you said, "Hey, don't go and donate sperm that might give an unsuspecting couple an autistic child they're not willing to love." But your reasoning is, "They might be LFA"? Uh-uh. Not cool, dude.


Like it or not most if any parents don't want a LFA child.



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19 Apr 2011, 5:01 am

I'm well aware of this. They don't want an Aspie child, either.

That's part of why I'm saying autistic guys shouldn't donate sperm--it could result in an autistic child with parents who don't accept him for who he is. And whether you are an Aspie genius or a teenager who's never said his first words, that's torture. Having parents who want a child who isn't you is one of the worst possible ways to grow up.

If you want a child, raise them yourself. You can make sure that that child is loved and accepted.


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Last edited by Callista on 19 Apr 2011, 5:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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19 Apr 2011, 5:02 am

I have seven donor inseminated offspring via a fertility clinic.

No one knew about my HF Aspergers 9 years ago.

I think the recipient mothers will get a shock when they find out. 8O Hopefully the children are okay.

I have now informed the clinic of my AS, but because i dont have a formal DX, they would rather brush it under the carpet rather than admit to their customers an aspie sperm donor got through.

Not good for business



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19 Apr 2011, 5:18 am

Callista wrote:
So LFA is a walking tragedy now, huh?

Look, some of my friends are pretty "low-functioning" (by which I mean they need aides to help them every day), and they are on average as happy as the "high-functioning" people I know.

I might agree with you if you said, "Hey, don't go and donate sperm that might give an unsuspecting couple an autistic child they're not willing to love." But your reasoning is, "They might be LFA"? Uh-uh. Not cool, dude.

I didn't say that. If they have friends, they are far higher functioning than what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the profoundly LFA people that don't talk or interact and are still not completely toilet trained their teens, and they need babysitters 24/7. Their quality of life is often debatable at best and taking care of them will require that the family completely revolve around them. By no means am I endorsing killing them or aborting them, but some really heavy questions need to be addressed about what their quality of life will be like if they risk having them? I volunteer with a bunch of autistic kids that are mostly on the lower half of the spectrum, and the kids that are the least happy tend to be a little biased towards the lower half of the spectrum and bigger problems await them later in life.


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Callista
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19 Apr 2011, 5:24 am

Quote:
I'm talking about the profoundly LFA people that don't talk or interact and are still not completely toilet trained their teens, and they need babysitters 24/7. Their quality of life is often debatable at best and taking care of them will require that the family completely revolve around them.
So am I. And yes, they can have friends.

Isn't it awfully presumptuous of you to insist they don't have a good quality of life, though? In reality, the severity of disability doesn't have any correlation with subjective measures of quality of life (that is--prevalence of positive emotion, one's satisfaction in life, the feeling of being accepted, etc.).

They often measure "quality of life" as mostly "how much stuff you can do for yourself", but that is totally unrelated to "happiness".


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19 Apr 2011, 5:57 am

Callista wrote:
In reality, the severity of disability doesn't have any correlation with subjective measures of quality of life (that is--prevalence of positive emotion, one's satisfaction in life, the feeling of being accepted, etc.).

They often measure "quality of life" as mostly "how much stuff you can do for yourself", but that is totally unrelated to "happiness".


What about the quality of life of the parents and caregivers?

Surely a more advanced disability is a less desirable outcome than a milder form? Not only for parents but for the autistic themselves. We are all trying to mitigate the effects of aspergers in our lives.

I think you are reacting emotionally to others here, and being excessively dogmatic at the will of emotional response. I understand you are conscious of the feelings of many autistics here on WP, but a statement by another highlighting the preference of an HFA child over a LFA is perfectly okay in my book.

Its kinda like not wanting a husband who snores loudly, but being okay about it if its a quiet snore



alexfromnorway
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19 Apr 2011, 6:13 am

I personally believe that it is a case of what the mother wants. If she has heard about how exciting it can be to be parent of an intelligent, handsome, and physically and mentally fit child with mild Asperger's that can become very, very successful as an adult. I would be more than happy with being contacted by a possible mate interested in knowing more about me.



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19 Apr 2011, 7:02 am

Callista wrote:
That's part of why I'm saying autistic guys shouldn't donate sperm--it could result in an autistic child with parents who don't accept him for who he is. And whether you are an Aspie genius or a teenager who's never said his first words, that's torture. Having parents who want a child who isn't you is one of the worst possible ways to grow up.


As a rule, people looking for donated sperm want the "perfect" child. Anyone with any inborn disability is not an acceptable donor. Even a family history of heart problems of diabetes will disqualify you from most any woman looking for a donor.



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19 Apr 2011, 7:52 am

Callista wrote:
Look, some of my friends are pretty "low-functioning" (by which I mean they need aides to help them every day), and they are on average as happy as the "high-functioning" people I know.


Yeah. But they don't buy granite counter tops for their McMansions. (sarcasm!! !)


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19 Apr 2011, 9:25 am

I will NEVER understand the mentality of people who think that it is okay to go purposely breed highly disabled people. 8O Nobody on this forum is taking away from the fact that LFA people can have a happy life. Everyone is simply saying that it is not ideal to breed people who require aides and services by purpose. Doesn't mean we don't accept them when they do come up. Two completely different things and wanting to avoid breeding does not equate to not accepting those who already exist.