What does Autism mean to YOU?

So, what does autism mean to you?

Technically speaking, autism is a spectrum of Pervasive Developmental Disorders that affects the brain. However, this spectrum disorder is so wide and our definitions are so limited that instead of understanding it in depth, most people choose to be ignorant about it. That is, unless they are forced with the harsh reality of it because they are a parent of a child with autism. The truth is, that harsh reality is becoming more and more impossible to evade because of autism’s escalating numbers. In just the last ten years the rate of new cases of autism has gone up from 1 in 500 five years ago to 1 in 166 and now experts think the numbers are more like 1 in 99!

But for a disorder that is so prevalent and so detrimental to the way in which children learn and develop, not much is being done to reduce these rates. The cause is still unknown, and although there are several leads, there is not enough money being allotted to study this disorder. Studies on the effects of vaccines on the presence of autism have not concluded much yet because they haven’t been conducted for long enough. In addition although mercury has been shown to have detrimental effects on development in children, some vaccines still contain mercury though they do not say they do. One huge leap for scientists is the results they have found from studying brain and eye patterns in children with autism vs. children without autism. ABA therapy tries to stimulate the areas of the brain that children with autism tend not to use as much as normally developing children, and the sooner ABA therapy is started, the better the outcome. But all this takes money…money that is not being funded.

There is hope though. In addition to the previous studies that have been done, twin studies show that autism is probably genetically based, which points to hope that scientists could someday find a gene that is responsible for autism, and figure out how to halt or slow down autism. Although autism is on the rise, there just has not been a major focus of research efforts to find a cure and there simply isn’t enough awareness and advocacy about this. This is slowly changing, because of how many devastated families have set out to change that, but we need more people, more awareness, and more laws in place to protect these families. Because no mother or father should cry for their child, be forced to split up because of the stress, or take out a second mortgage or even sell their homes to pay for their child to have adequate treatment.

For a disorder that is the fastest growing, why is it that most medical insurances won’t cover any treatments related to it? Why is there literally no money being funded to study the genetic background of this disorder? So, when someone asks you what autism means to you, answer them! Learn as much about Autism as possible. Contact your congressman and make them aware that you want more resources allocated to treating Autism. With 1 in 150 children being diagnosed with Autism it may be affecting you or your children in the near future, but with every single person who donates their time or money, we get closer to the cure!