Is the % of athletes with autistic children higher than the general population?

PeteRose9412 · Mar 11, 2010

Is the % of athletes with autistic children higher than the general population? Obviously this is not a subject to make light of but Im listening to Colin Cowherd and apparently Curt Shillings kid has something similar to autism. I cant think of all the cases off the top of my head but Im pretty sure there were 4 or 5 high profile quarterbacks with autistic children also.

celticGreen+ · Mar 11, 2010

i remember wondering this a year or two ago, during the nfl playoffs. autism is not uncommon (about 1 in 100 i think), so i figure we just hear about every pro athlete's autistic kids and are less aware of others.

D2bets · Mar 11, 2010

celticGreen said:
i remember wondering this a year or two ago, during the nfl playoffs. autism is not uncommon (about 1 in 100 i think), so i figure we just hear about every pro athlete's autistic kids and are less aware of others.

Bingo. Think NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, both current and former and we're probably looking at in excess of 10,000. Figure 2 children per and that's 20,000. At 1 in 100 (just for autism alone) that's a likelihood of 200 possible cases. Plus, it;s better diagnosed among people with means.

bigtendominator · Mar 11, 2010

I thought NFL qb are more likely to have children born with birth defects based on some of the qbs I have heard about.

Mark Rypien
Dan Marino
Boomer Easion
Jim Kelly

I am drawing a blank on 3 or 4 others.

TorontoFC · Mar 11, 2010

bigtendominator said:
I thought NFL qb are more likely to have children born with birth defects based on some of the qbs I have heard about.

Mark Rypien
Dan Marino
Boomer Easion
Jim Kelly

I am drawing a blank on 3 or 4 others.

Doug Flutie

buddyboy · Mar 11, 2010

Plus, it;s better diagnosed among people with means

if you've been around any kids (even mild cases) with autisum, you know it's not difficult to diagnose.

I can't see a 3rd grade teacher saying, "has your child been evaluated for autisum?"

but i can see a pre-K teacher saying that the first day of school.