Autistic perspectives on the moral and ethical considerations of genetic testing for autism

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the nuanced perspectives expressed by Autistic adults about genetic testing for autism. In this secondary analysis of an existing dataset, we used inductive content analysis of free-text responses that Autistic adults wrote in response to questions asking about perceptions of genetic testing for autism that had been included in a previous survey. Participants who completed the survey had been recruited online. Three-hundred eighty-nine participants wrote a total of 28,774 words in response to the questions of interest. While some respondents wrote about potential benefits of genetic testing (79/389), more (333/389) wrote about potential negative outcomes of genetic testing. Participants wrote about concerns of eugenics (281/389), described a lack of trust in how genetics information would be used (125/389), and raised concerns that genetic testing could increase discrimination (66/389). This is the largest study to date to conduct an in-depth analysis of Autistic adults’ opinions on genetic testing for autism. Most respondents raised serious concerns. Additional work is needed to collect more Autistic opinions about genetic testing for autism.