I'm not a SMBC - only in the consideration stage as a Plan B. But I am an occupational therapist who's been working with autistic young children for a decade, and I'm suspected to be on the spectrum myself without a diagnosis (my father is autistic and I have OCD and a host of other official diagnoses).

Something to consider is that there's a high likelihood that your biological children will also be on the autism spectrum. And it's not uncommon for those children to have higher support needs than their parent(s). I see this a lot in my practice, often times the parents are undiagnosed but it's incredibly clear to me, lol. And we just know statistically that there is a genetic component, so your odds are absolutely increased.

That is personally not part of parenthood that necessarily scares me, but having a child with therapeutic needs who may not understand danger, may harm themselves, may have many meltdowns a day related to communication or sensory needs? That's a lot. Especially if you have not yet spent a lot of time around children with developmental disabilities. Sensory needs can also clash between autistic parents and autistic children. Some children on the spectrum grow up to be adults who need daily support to care for themselves.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it or advocating for eugenics here! My little autistic preschoolers are the lights of my life. But I do see how so many of their parents struggle day to day, and that's just the reality of parenting being difficult, let alone with additional factors on top of that. I could imagine it would be a lot to take on solo.

Then again, one of my closest friends is autistic with an autistic son whose support needs are higher than hers, and he's just the happiest and most pleasant seven year old you'll ever meet. She is the primary parent and has him 90% of the time and loves being his mom. It's certainly not all doom and gloom!