yeah I'm pretty sure it is
they just haven't found the cause of it yet. Autism is not some kid acting up and being a shit. it is a lifelong, debilitating, awful thing to watch someone with. People can range from mild autism (Aspergers) to fully blown antisocial autism (my nephew).
it doesn't necessarily depend on the age but my sister waited 5 years between her fourth and her fifth children. She was nearly 39 when she had him.
(Poppet some assembly required., Sun 22 Mar 2009, 10:26, 1 reply)

It being a real thing doesn't make it a disease.
Nobody is saying it isn't real, but calling it a disease is really neurotypical-centric thinking, and inaccurate. Currently, it is a bundle of symptoms that gets diagnosed as a disorder somewhere on the spectrum.

As you can see from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_autism, there are many proposed causes and it is likely that more than one of them is right. None of these proposed causes includes 'older mother' as far as I can see. It is not a disease. And it is not always debilitating or awful.

/soapbox
(Skittlemcfluff ......................, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 17:53, closed)