Yep, you heard right. The CDC announced yesterday it’s new findings that show 1 in 50 school-age children have autism.
Naturally, articles instantly popped up about how this doesn’t really mean anything, the numbers are the same as they’ve always been. We’re just more “aware”. This article was my favorite: (<— sarcasm)
“You will probably see a lot of headlines about the 1 in 50. Some organizations might even try to use those numbers to scare people, to talk about an “epidemic” or a “tsunami.” But if you look at the numbers and the report itself, you’ll see that overall, the numbers of people born with autism aren’t necessarily increasing dramatically. It’s just that we’re getting better and better at counting them.”- Forbes.com
“We’re betting better and better at counting them”…??? Seriously!?
Are we as a society more “aware”. Of course. Are there probably some percentage of kids who are misdiagnosed and don’t actually have autism? Sure, the same is true of ANY diagnosis. But does that account for the ever-increasing autistic population? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
People LOVE to deny an increase and tell us we’re overreacting to these numbers. If the numbers aren’t increasing…prove it. Show me 1 in 50 sixty-year-old adults with autism. You can’t! Because they don’t exist!
THAT is the research I’d love to see. If people are so sure that we’re just getting better at recognizing autism, then let’s look at the adults around us and see how many of them currently qualify for an autism diagnosis. How many ADULTS (ages 30, 40, 50, 60+) have autism? Let’s compare those numbers to the numbers we see today.
And for those parents out there who say they agree with this Forbes article, and don’t think there’s a real increase in autism…ask yourself these 2 simple questions:
How many autistic kids do I know? How many autistic adults (ages 30+) do I know?
theautismonion.com 