Twin studies are a classic demonstration of this: comparing identical twins to non-identical twins lets us prove a genetic component.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=669...
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=669...
There are many causes of autism. Research suggests that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develops from a combination of:
Genetic influences and
Environmental influences, including social determinants
Yes environmental factors are there too, otherwise it would be 100%, but there's enough evidence pointing to genetics that it is really disappointing when people try to find spurious links to false causes instead.
What heritability actually means https://dynomight.substack.com/p/heritable
> I couldn’t help but notice that there’s near-universal confusion about what “heritable” means. Partly, that’s because it’s a subtle concept. But it also seems relevant that almost all explanations of heritability are very, very confusing.
For example, they say speaking Turkish isn’t heritable but speaking English is. Weird!
> Heritability can be high even when genes have no direct causal effect. It can be low even when there is a strong direct effect. It changes when the environment changes. It even changes based on how you group people together. It can be larger than 100% or even undefined.