Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Today is World Autism Awareness Day

I have an autistic son, Alec. He is the joy of my life, but it took a long time to find joy again once Alec was diagnosed. But this much I know: God has a special and unique purpose for autistic children no less than that of any other child!

FACTS ABOUT AUTISM (from
www.autismspeaks.org):

  • 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism
  • 1 in 94 boys is on the autism spectrum
  • 67 children are diagnosed per day
  • A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
  • More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
  • Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
  • Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade
  • Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
  • Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
  • There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Incidence vs. Private Funding
  • Leukemia: Affects 1 in 25,000 / Funding: $310 million
  • Muscular Dystrophy: Affects 1 in 20,000 / Funding: $175 million
  • Pediatric AIDS: Affects 1 in 8,000 / Funding: $394 million
  • Juvenile Diabetes: Affects 1 in 500 / Funding: $130 million
  • Autism: Affects 1 in 150 / Funding: $15 million

National Institutes of Health Funds Allocation

  • Total 2005 NIH budget: $29 billion
  • Of this, only $100 million goes towards autism research. This represents 0.3% of total NIH funding.
CNN is providing a day of coverage for World Autism Awareness Day today. For more information, see my blog http://www.walkingwithalec.com, which details our faith-based approach to overcoming autism, and the following online informational sources and resources:

Current News Stories:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/24/autism.vaccines/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/31/autism.main/index.html

Autism Informational Resources:

http://www.autism.com/ (Defeat Autism Now!)

http://www.autismspeaks.org
http://www.autism-society.org

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