Historically, mothers were blamed for causing their kids to have autism by being "cold" towards them. "Refrigerator mom's" was one name for them.

With modern insight it seems more likely that moms somewhere on the autism spectrum themselves were being blamed because they seemed odd to neurotypical medics.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_mother_theory

I have read about the refrigerator mom concept, but didn't make the link that these mothers could have potentially been autistic themselves. On this note, you are probably aware of the recent attention being paid to the diagnosis of women and girls with autism. Until recently the common conception was that males were more likely to have autism because most of the early research was done on autistic boys! And, in case you're curious to learn more and haven't heard, I've linked to an article from Scientific American (below) which reviews some newish research suggesting that females with autism have brains more closely resembling neurotypical males (and the interesting "protected sex" hypothesis, dealing with how testosterone influences the development of autism).

My dad is likely autistic, so there's the link for me. I don't know him at all, but genetics are a whacky little code system and I've magically taken a liking to electronics and computers with the same degree of passion that he supposedly applies to his work with ham radio! I was raised in a highly artistic community, and although I have developed a decent creative ability and do art as a hobby, my career path is in maths and computer science. Interesting!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/autism-it-s-diffe...

Children of distant mothers tend to develop anxiety and personality disorders. Witness the new king.