The Adult Autism Crisis

In What Happens When They Grow Up, Newsweek, to its credit, focuses on the very real adult autism residential care crisis which exists in the United States (and in Canada). Newsweek is unable to provide any real solutions but hopefully the article will help focus the public discussion of autism on the very serious crisis confronting adults with autism disorders who can not care for themselves.

Not all "autistics" grow up to become researchers, Supreme Court of Canada litigants and college students, appear repeatedly on CNN with Dr. Gupta, or start "Autistic"rights movements. Some are more severely impaired, lacking basic communication skills and an understanding of the world and how to function in it.

Here in New Brunswick we have much to be proud of in terms of autism service delivery for autistic pre-schoolers and our schools are rapidly becoming a model second to none in North America for educating autistic students. But our autistic adult services are abysmal.

In New Brunswick our autistic adults in need of residential care are placed in privately operated group homes. The homes are not set up specifically for autistic adults and the staff are not trained to deal with autistic adults. The more severely autistic adults and older autistic youths in New Brunswick have been kept on the grounds of a correctional facility, on the ward of a general hospital, left with overwhelmed parents or exported to facilities elsewhere in Canada and the United States.

The adult autism crisis is not unique to New Brunswick but, unlike our services for preschool and school age autistic children, the adult care autism crisis here in New Brunswick is amongst the serious in North America. By literally exporting our autistic adults we are admitting that we have failed some of our most vulnerable New Brunswickers.

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Autism Hero Stefan Marinoiu's Hunger Strike For Autism Now

There are many ways parents and other concerned citizens can advocate for health, treatment, education and residential services for autistic children and adults. Some join organizations, hold awareness meetings with government, business and the public, write letters to the editor and so on. Stefan Marinoiu of Toronto, who I met a couple of weeks ago during the recent Medicare for Autism Campaign NOW! visit to Toronto and Oakville, goes much further. Stefan has put it all on the line advocating for autism. And he is doing it again, right now. Stefan began a hunger strike for autism on May 5 outside Queen's Park in Toronto.

This winter Stefan walked for 11 days, over more than 200 miles, from Toronto to Ottawa, in the middle of a tough Canadian winter, blizzards and all, in an effort to meet Alleged Health Minister Tony Clement to ask the Canadian government to do something to help autistic people in Canada. He was traveling on foot with no warm trailer to retire to at the end of the day or if things got rough. With his winter autism trek Stefan literally put his life on the line advocating for autism change. Stefan got a 15 minute meeting with Minister Clement who said very little of substance. While the alleged federal Health Minister was not moved by Stefan's efforts parents of autistic loved ones across Canada were very moved. It was a privilege for me to meet Stefan in Toronto and Oakville. He is a genuine and compassionate person and has a great family.

Stefan's daughter Lia has started a Facebook group HUNGERSTRIKE for AUTISM NOW on which you will find updates and information about Stefan's Hunger Strike for Autism Now. As Lia points out her father is a type-2 diabetic. His hunger strike again poses serious risks to Stefan's health. Stefan's willingness to put it on the line for autism is a reflection of his tremendous personal courage and his strong convictions. It also reflects his frustration with the lack of help for autistic people like his son, 15 year old Simon, as shown in this Toronto Sun video:

I hope that Stefan takes care of himself as he tries again to impress upon government and public decision makers the impact that autism is having on autistic persons and their families and the need to take serious action to address Canada's autism crisis.

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Autism Crisis In Scotland - Invisible Autistic Adults

In Scotland Lacks Autism Services I commented on an article on healthcarerepublic on July 6, 2007 and the lack of services for people with autism in Scotland. That article, Call to find autism early in Scotland, focused on guidelines published by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) calling on doctors to look for signs of autism in children and adolescents, including problems with social interaction and play, speech and behaviours. The article also expressed the doubt of many professionals in Scotland that early diagnosis would make much difference because of the lack of autism services available in Scotland.

In Revealed: ‘invisible’ adults living with autism, the Sunday Herald today reports, on an impending report by the National Autistic Society, the lack of services for autistic adults in Scotland, their dependency on family members for support and the isolation in which many spend their lives:

"Issues in the report include limited access to diagnosis, with 56% of those surveyed saying they found it hard to get their condition recognised. One adult said: "The GP did nothing. She didn't see any point in diagnosis for an adult."

But even after diagnosis many say they do not get the support they need. One participant in the survey commented: "I have had little or no support ever - my mother has done everything."

...

Bill Welsh, president of the Edinburgh-based Autism Treatment Trust, said the plight of many adults with autism had been "swept under the carpet", yet one child in 100 in the UK was diagnosed with the condition and the cost to society for each autistic child was estimated at £4 million. He added: "A major social, health and financial problem is upon us and urgent action is required."

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Autism Rising in Alabama

WHNT.com, from Huntsville, Alabama, reports statistics from an Alabama state task force report which says that the number of children in Alabama's public schools diagnosed with autism has grown from 68 in 1990 to 849 in 2000 and to 2,297 in 2006. Those who accept, as an article of faith, that there are no environmental factors in the worldwide increases in autism will immediately point to the changes in the DSM diagnostic criteria and definition of autism, increased awareness, and families seeking access to services by seeking an autism diagnosis for their children, as the sole explanation for such an increase. Some of these arguments are undoubtedly valid explanations for explaining part of such increases.

The changes in definition of autism began primarily in 1994 with the DSM-IV the last major revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. Some will argue that those changes did not have any impact for a couple of years afterward and that makes sense. But that argument does not explain the dramatic increase, the tripling of reported autism diagnoses in the Alabama report between 2000 and 2006. Here in New Brunswick Canada my son was first diagnosed with an autism disorder in 1998. The DSM changes were reflected in practice in this area at that time. By early 2000 there had been major reviews of Autism Disorders conducted in California, New York and Maine and by the office of the US Surgeon General. The definition changes and awareness arguments do not seem to offer much explanation for the nearly tripling of autism diagnoses amongst Alabama school children between 2000 and 2006.

Nor does the "parents pushing for autism diagnoses to obtain services for their children" argument, provide any assistance in explaining the Alabama increases between 2000 and 2006. The recent Alabama autism task force report recently reported that Alabama lacks the autism services offered by nearby states and across the United States.

The dramatic increase, the near tripling, of autism diagnoses amongst Autistic school children between 2000 and 2006 should raise serious questions about a possible environmental factors in contributing to such increases. Smug assumptions to the contrary are simply not based on evidence or sound reasoning.

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Autism Waiting Lists In Alberta

The disparity in funding for autism treatment in Canada has, in the past, led some families with autistic children to move to oil rich Alberta, which has substantial government funding available for autistic children. But the availability of better funding has not translated into better services in all cases as children are stuck on lengthy waiting lists awaiting assessment. In Situation critical for autistic children Nicki Thomas of Sun Media reports on the critical shortage of staff and funding threatening the futures of autistic children in Edmonton. Terri Duncan of Children's Autism Services of Edmonton indicates that there are staffing shortages everywhere in Alberta and children are waiting up to a year for assessment. That year is a critically important year lost for autistic children in need of treatment:

Duncan said if autism isn't detected and treated early on, disruptive behaviour - like hitting, kicking and biting - develop from an inability to communicate effectively.

"Those behaviours can make lives really difficult and hard to deal with," she said.

"We would be able to take a lot more children off the waiting list if we had more qualified, trained staff," Duncan said.

Many credible studies and reviews of professional literature have confirmed that early ABA intervention is critically important for achieving the best possible outcome for autistic children. Lengthy waiting lists for assessment deprive autistic children of a better future.

In New Brunswick many, including me, have thought that a medical doctor is the only professional who can diagnose autism disorders. I was informed though that Psychologists can also make the initial autism diagnosis.

New Brunswick, Alberta, or anywhere else in Canada, it would seem that an important step in addressing the autism crisis, a crisis which is very real for families of children with autism, is to take steps to educate GP's in diagnosing autism. The tools being made available now by the American Academy of Pediatrics and similar organizations should be used by all doctors and psychologists to ensure autistic children receive early ABA treatment during the important early years without time being squandered.

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Autism Speaks Tackles Autism Crisis in South Florida Mar 24 - 28

Donald Trump, Bob Wright, Suzanne Wright, Melania Trump
Photo: TOWN-CRIER Online

Autism Speaks is continuing to show outstanding leadership in tackling the Autism Crisis in the US and around the world. Co-founders Bob and Suzanne Wright have joined with Donald and Melania Trump, local parents and autism advocates in organizing a South Florida autism awareness and fundraising initiative to take place during the last week in March. Autism Speaks Week, March 24-30, will include a number of activities including a Television News Series on the autism crisis of escalating rates of autism diagnoses, March 24 to 28 on NBC stations in the area, an on-line auction, ING Direct Ride Now South Florida motorcycle ride, Saturday, March 29, a telethon and broadcast of 'Autism Every Day', and a concert for Autism Speaks, headlined by Lionel Ritchie, Sunday March 20.

As stated by Bob and Suzanne Wright in TOWN-CRIER Online:

“Autism is a national health crisis that is affecting families in every corner of this country, from Florida to Alaska,” Bob Wright said. “Autism Speaks Week will shine a spotlight on the struggles of South Florida families and inform people about what they can do to improve the lives of individuals with autism in their community.” “Our hope is that this series of events will increase the level of understanding and acceptance,” Suzanne Wright added. “The money we raise will help Autism Speaks fund autism research and support community organizations here in South Florida and across the United States that provide critical services to children and adults with autism.”

The ability of Autism Speaks to generate public awareness of autism, raise funds for autism research is amazing. And now Autism Speaks is turning its considerable abilities to assisting local autism support organizations. Not content to engage in endless peurile debates over the appropriate metaphors to use in describing autism or whether to say "autistic person" or "person with autism" Autism Speaks is actually doing something constructive, in a big way, in addressing the Autism Crisis.

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Canadian Autism Prevalence Rates Different Than US Rates?

In early February 2007 the Center for Disease Control, the CDC, publicly revised its autism estimated prevalence rate from 1 in 166 Americans to 1 in 150. In Canada the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the CIHR, web site indicates on its autism page, Health Research: Key to improving outcomes for children with autism, that "Autism, or more appropriately autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), affects an estimated 6 of every 1000 Canadian children." The calculator program on your computer will tell you that 6 in 1000 is roughly 1 in 166, the old CDC figure.

Why the discrepancy between the CDC's estimated prevalence rate and the CIHR's estimated Canadian rate? There are a number of possible explanations:

1) Canada, for reasons that could be environmentally or genetically based, could actually have fewer persons with autism spectrum disorders than the United States.

2) The CIHR may simply be using the old CDC estimate, unaware that the CDC revised its estimates of autism prevalence almost one year ago.

3) The CIHR may be aware that the CDC has changed its estimate but disagrees with the new estimate.

4) The CIHR may be aware of the newer CDC estimate and may agree with it; but can't be bothered to update its autism website information.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the correct answer is .... 4) The CIHR can't be bothered to update its autism website information. That explanation would be consistent with the attitude of the CIHR's political masters, the Harper government, which can't be bothered making a serious effort to address Canada's autism crisis.

And this is the same CIHR which said that it wants to build ties in Canada's autism community and help disseminate autism information to those communities? Maybe those of us who are merely ignorant parents, whose shoes will never be asked to tread the carpets of the CIHR national autism symposiums, should weigh carefully the information that ultimately emerges from those secretive conventions.

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Autism Numbers

In Autism by the numbers Newsday offers a reality based perspective on the autism crisis facing families and governments in the United States today and the need to establish regional autism prevalence in order to allocate resources appropriately. The opinion article points to the lack of funding and implementation of the US Combating Autism Act , the lack of standard reporting requirements for schools and pediatricians, the slow pace of movement by the CDC and lack of coordination by various levels of government for the failure to establish regional autism rates.

The call by Newsday for action, for detailed epidemiological studies, to establish regional rates is based on two premises: (1) Autism is a serious disorder with an enormous impact on families and (2) Autism diagnoses, for whatever reason, are increasing at an alarming rate.

Autism is a lifelong heartbreak for parents of children diagnosed with the puzzling disorder, whose incidence is growing at alarming rates.

Not only does it mean years of exhausting care to manage behavioral aberrations that make everyday functioning for their children difficult at best, dangerous at worst. But it also means constant worries by parents that, after they're gone, their adult children may fall through the cracks of a system badly equipped to serve their many needs.

And those needs are growing rapidly. Once reported as a rare disorder, autism now affects one in every 150 children in the United States, according to the latest available studies conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

...

Regardless of cause, evidence that a growing number of children are being diagnosed as autistic is everywhere. Agencies on Long Island that provide social, educational and training services for children and adults with autism can't keep up with the growing demand. Residential facilities in Nassau and Suffolk report waiting lists ranging from two to five years.

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Autism Crisis - Australia

ABC is reporting on an Australian study which indicates that autism is costing Australia [ Population 20,823,333, May 14 07, Australian Bureau of Statistics] up to $7 billion a year; a reflection of a 10 fold increase in rates of Autism and Aspergers. Dr. James Morton of Autism Early Intervention Outcomes Unit says the problem has caught government unawares. Apparently the Australian government is as oblivious to the realities of autism as the Canadian government. Maybe Roy Grinker, Kristina Chew and others can offer some soothing anthropological perspective and some new literary metaphors to assist the Australian families who are struggling to help their autistic children acquire basic language and life skills.

http://tinyurl.com/38l6b

<span style="font-weight:bold;">Autism costing Aust up to $7b: report

A new report has found the treatment of autism and related conditions such as Asperger syndrome are costing the Australian economy up to $7 billion a year.

It was commissioned by Dr James Morton, one of the founders of the Autism Early Intervention Outcomes Unit.

Dr Morton says the report's release in Brisbane today has been timed to mark the start of Autism Awareness Week.

"It's really gone under the radar. It's exploded in the last 10 years. Some of the studies suggests that the incidence has increased 10-fold in the last decade," he said.

"I think that is why it's caught government unawares. It wasn't anywhere near the problem it is now 10 years ago."

Dr Morton says the official response to the rising incidence of autism has been too little, too late.

"I hope that this study brings [autism] to the community's attention and leads to funding for early detection and early intervention, which makes an enormous difference and is very under-funded in this country," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1921975.htm

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Autism Is A Global Health Crisis - Suzanne Wright

Founder of Autism Speaks, Suzanne Wright, along with Priscilla Natkins and Andy Shih
Gulf Times Newspaper

Suzanne Wright and Autism Speaks are raising autism awareness around the globe. The information presented in the following article is basic and to the point. Autism is not a literary metaphor or a different cultural viewpoint, it is a neurological disorder characterized by a range of very serious deficits. Children with autism can be aided immensely by behavioral interventions. But parents and professionals have to understand this point and act promptly and decisively. Autism awareness, not misleading rhetoric, is critical to helping autistic children whatever their country of residence.


Autism is a global health crisis: expert
Published: Wednesday, 25 April, 2007, 08:43 AM Doha Time

Staff Reporter
AUTISM strikes without any discrimination of ethnicity, class, geography, gender or race, said Autism Speaks’ founder, Suzanne Wright, yesterday during the Second Annual International Forum on Children with Special Needs in the Shafallah Center.
Also speaking on the occasion were Ad Council’s executive vice president and director of client services, Priscilla Natkins and Autism Speaks’s chief science officer, Andy Shih.
Referring to autism as ‘an urgent global health crisis,’ Wright said that this fast growing, serious developmental disorder, has become an epidemic which is found in one of every 166 children in the United States.
“Though the causes are unknown, it can spread worldwide without any discrimination,” she explained.
The session, on the urgency of bringing Autism epidemic awareness through public service advertising, began by screening a documentary entitiled, ‘Autism everyday’.
The daily lives of eight autistic children were screened, along with their parents’ apprehensions. The children, all above three to four years, required constant attention and were seen restless.
The main symptom was ‘stimming’, a repetitive body movement that self-stimulates one or more senses in a regulated manner, some of them, being grinding teeth, jumping on toes, head banging and scratching. The child makes absolutely no eye contact and many of them stopped speaking after a particular age. Simple tasks like dressing, brushing and eating by themselves took hours and a mother agreed to this, saying, “it took me two years to teach my son to put his shirt on”.
There have been instances when a child affected by autism had not slept for two to three weeks.
Researches say that 80% of the time, parents with an autistic child end in a divorce, as they are equally helpless and cannot cope with the emotional, and financial issues.
Some of the measures taken for the care of children diagnosed with autism, are behaviour therapy, music therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy, most of which are done at home.
The parents were apprehensive, as these treatments were expensive - as high as $100 per hour.
Suzanne Wright, who herself has an autistic grandson, Criston, said that grandparents also play an extraordinary role in the care of autistic children. She exhorted that they should provide support to their children to raise the diagnosed child.
Wright said that autism can be diagnosed when children do not exactly meet their milestones, or meet them at an unusually early time, such as sitting up before six months and walking before 10 months.
Wright said that raising awareness was the corner stone of her mission.
Priscilla Natkins spoke about the role of media and and the effective public service campaigns that were raised. Some of the advertisements screened urged the audience to know more about autism, through their website.
The campaigns launched have successfully increased parental knowledge. It was said that the earlier the awareness, the earlier intervention will help. The advertisement council relied on pro bono services from advertising agencies and the media.
The target audience was parents of newborn, and the secondary target being doctors and health care professionals.
Andy Shih, spoke about the research they in this field. He also talked about the importance of scientists all over the world linking and working together to find a cure for this neurological disorder.

http://tinyurl.com/37853z

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Autism Is NOW a Health Crisis; Soon a Disaster

The attached article by Anne McElroy Dachel should be mandatory reading for public officials charged with responsibility for public health issues in Canada, the United States and elsewhere in the world. Ms Dachel takes the CDC, in particular, to task for its failure to portray the seriousness of autism disorder for so many individual autistic persons and the impending costs to taxpayers in the US of paying for the care and supervision they will require in a few short years. While her support for the mercury-vaccine-autism theory will not be endorsed by all readers, including me, the magnitude of the existing health crisis is beyond serious dispute.

Canada is cursed by the same nonchalant ignorance on the part of our leaders. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, after ordering his troops to vote down a motion to amend the Canada Health Act to provide funding for autism treatment across Canada, then put a budget before Canadians which did not dedicate a single penny to provide funding for autism treatment. Prime Minister Harper was not just heartless toward autistic children and adults with the middle finger salute he gave them; he also demonstrated his own ignorance of a serious health crisis which will soon hit Canadians very very hard financially in providing supervision and care for autistic adults, now numbering 1 in 150.




Autism: "A Serious Public Health Problem"
Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 11:41 am
Opinion: Guest Opinion
Autism: “A Serious Public Health Problem”

By Anne McElroy Dachel

The article about autism, No Know Cause, No Cure by Jennifer Chancellor in the Tulsa World on April 1 got my attention. It wasn’t because we were again told that no one knows for sure why one in every 150 U.S. kids is now autistic, or that experts have no idea how to cure them. That’s pretty much the way autism is covered in the press. What stood out to me was the first part of the statement, “The CDC has called autism a national public health crisis.”

As someone who has read news reports on autism for several years, I’ve yet to see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use the term “crisis” when talking about autism.
Maybe I missed it somewhere, but after several days searching through CDC press releases on autism, it just wasn’t there.

The Oprah Show covered autism on April 5. Oprah started the program by saying that the CDC calls autism a “national health threat.” That was the first time I’d seen a term as strong as “health threat” used by the CDC in referring to autism. Oprah said that 67 children a day in the U.S. are diagnosed with autism, making it one every 20 minutes. That seems like a lot more than just a “health threat.”

The CDC is extremely careful when mentioning autism. For instance, in February when announcing the results of a 5 year old study revealing an autism prevalence rate of one in 150 among eight-year olds, the “C” word was never mentioned. "Autism is a serious public health problem which impacts too many children and their families," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. Is “Serious public health problem” as alarmed as the Director is about autism in 2007?

So why is it that autism doesn’t deserve a crisis rating by the CDC? Lots of other diseases and disorders do. They’ve come out in official statements calling HIV/AIDS a “crisis.” The explosion in the rate of diabetes in the U.S. is a “crisis” to the CDC too. The CDC has an official “Bird Flu Crisis Plan” ready for when the avian flu actually affects someone in the U.S. We officially have a “childhood obesity crisis” and an “asthma crisis” according to the CDC.

While I’m not arguing that diseases and disorders like AIDS and diabetes don’t deserve to be called crises, I’m just continually amazed that the CDC doesn’t consider autism in a league with other serious health concerns.

Another term the health care officials are careful not to use in the same breath as autism is the word “epidemic.” Autism may affect more children than pediatric AIDS, juvenile diabetes and childhood cancer COMBINED, but autism is never an epidemic to the CDC. Surprisingly, the CDC refers to each of these other diseases on their own as epidemics.

As the autism numbers exploded from one in 10,000 in the 1970s, to one in 2,500 in the 1980s, to the present one in every 150 children in the U.S., the CDC kept telling us that it just wasn’t happening. When asked why more and more autistic kids are filling our schools, the federal health experts told us that doctors were getting better at recognizing autism. This “better diagnosing” explanation has just been reinforced with the claim that the new rate of one in 150 is because the CDC is getting better at counting.

The official autism website of the CDC makes no reference to either “epidemic” or “crisis.” The tone of the information has all the urgency of the CDC fact sheet on treating head lice. There’s no indication that autism costs the U.S. $90 billion a year and that it's projected to increase to $200-400 billion annually in ten more years, according to the Autism Society of America. Nor is there anything about the recent conservative estimate that each autistic person in the U.S. will cost the American taxpayers $3.2 million

Under “What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?” on the CDC website, we are told that “people with ASD often have problems with language, communication and social skills. ASD may display a certain set of behaviors, such as resisting change, repeating phrases or actions, not interacting with others in traditional conversation or play, or showing distress for unapparent reasons.”

That weak description doesn’t tell us how seriously affected many children with autism are. It doesn’t include the children with violent behavior who are a danger to themselves and to others, or the child who can’t talk at all and has no fear of dangerous situations and is in need of constant supervision.

And the CDC website fails to note the other health problems like chronic diarrhea, seizures, allergies, and asthma which often accompany autism.

The CDC may have their own reasons for avoiding attention-getting terms like “crisis” and “epidemic.” This is also the agency that runs the vaccine program. As the charge continues to be made that vaccines are directly related to the explosion in the autism rate, the CDC continues to deny it.

On the CDC website, they say, “No one knows exactly what causes Autism Spectrum Disorders.” They cautiously say that “experts believe genetic and environmental factors probably interact in complex ways to contribute to the onset of the disorder,” but they’re quick to tell us, “…neither thimerosal-containing vaccines or MMR vaccine are associated with ASDs.” Such claims “lack supporting evidence and are only theoretical.”

With new rate, the autism advocacy group, SafeMinds published a press release in which SafeMinds president Lyn Redwood, RN stated, “We are truly in the midst of an epidemic.” One of the things she asked for was that the CDC “acknowledge the epidemic increase in autism rates.”

At the same time, National Autism Association President Wendy Fournier in the Providence Journal said, “Autism is a crisis. It’s an epidemic. We’re renewing our call to the CDC to declare that autism is a national emergency.”

That’s highly unlikely. If the CDC won’t call autism a “crisis” or “epidemic,” they sure aren’t going to use “emergency” anywhere near the word autism.

Others however, echo the call to recognize autism as a national health care emergency. F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP wrote Autism 99: A National Emergency which summarized a report on autism in 1999 by the California legislature that showed “a massive and persistent rise in the incidence of this disease.” Dr. Yazbak also cited the exponential increase in autism in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri, and Rhode Island. In other words, the explosion in autism wasn’t just an isolated fluke, it was everywhere.

In Autism 2000: A Tragedy, Dr. Yazbak focused on the 26% annual autism increase in U.S. schools. The next year he wrote, Autism 2001:The Silent Epidemic, in which he gave the stunning figures out of California of 7 or 8 new cases of autism a day in that state. Dr. Yazbak asked why the CDC continued to ignore autism, “One can only imagine the outcry if there was an outbreak of 4,000 cases of any other pediatric illness in the same three month period. The CDC specialists would be clamoring for a cure and seriously looking for the clues to the epidemic.”

In his best selling book, Evidence of Harm, author David Kirby wrote that through the efforts of autism advocate Rick Rollins of the Mind Institute, the California legislature produced the “first-ever comprehensive epidemiological report on the increase of autism cases in California.” Rick broke that down to “one new child every four hours” diagnosed with autism in the state. He added, “Each of those kids would end up costing taxpayers at least two million dollars.” Furthermore, “unlike children with cancer or AIDS, autistic kids don’t die from their disease. These facts don’t seem to get the attention of the CDC and autism is downplayed. Officially calling autism an “emergency,” “epidemic,” or “crisis,” would necessitate taking action.

The clock is ticking however. The generation of autistic children will soon become the generation of autistic adults dependent on the U.S. taxpayers for support and care. The first wave will be aging out in the next few years and the autism epidemic will be evident to everyone. When that happens, it will no longer be just a crisis. It will be a disaster.

Anne McElroy Dachel
amdachel @ msn.com
Member:
A-CHAMP
(Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning)
http://www.a-champ.org
National Autism Association (NAA)
http://www.nationalautismassociation.org

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