Speaking out on Autism

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old.

April 2nd will no longer be “the day after April Fool’s”, to me at least. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked yesterday as World Autism Day, taking a very important step to raise awareness of the growing issue at hand, and acknowledging the courage autistic kids have within them to get through each tedious day and not forgetting the patience and unconditional love that their parents shower upon them every day.

Some very startling statistics of autism should be mentioned :

• AUTISM OCCURRENCE: One in every 150 children born in the US has autism (read CDC report). It is estimated approximately 1 million in the US have this disorder.
• U.S. FACTS:
• • A new case of autism is diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes
  • There are 24,000 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. per year
  • The economic impact of autism is more than $90 billion and expected to more than double in the next decade.
  • Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases.
  • There is no medical detection treatment, or cure for autism.
• AUTISM COMPARED TO OTHER DISABILITIES: Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S. today.

• HOW DOES FUNDING FOR AUTISM COMPARE TO OTHER CHILDHOOD DISORDERS & DISEASES?
• Leukemia 1 in 25,000 Funding: $300 million
• Muscular Dystrophy 1 in 20,000 Funding: $160 million
• Cystic Fibrosis 1 in 5,000 Funding: $75 million
• Juvenile Diabetes 1 in 500 Funding: $140 million
• Autism 1 in 150 Funding: $15 million

For a medical condition with a 1 in 150 occurrence, the amount of funding it’s receiving is absolutely miserable and pales in comparison compared to other childhood medical conditions. This is not to say that funding for those disorders are too much – rather, funding for autism is way too little and I suspect it is due to the general lack of awareness in the world. Imagine if the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation came to know about this!

What makes things even worse is how autism, with an alarmingly high occurrence rate, is so little understood in the medical world. Perhaps one led to another and if this trend is allowed to continue, it could very well be 1 in a 100 when people my age are ready to settle down and have a kid.

Like most people I have a rough idea regarding what autism is and a mental scene in my head how a kid with autism will behave. But, like most people, what I was unaware of was the huge emotional and psychological burden that parents have to carry for possibly the rest of the lives. Mr.Brown’s wife (they have an autistic daughter named Faith), in a letter found here, wrote :

I had imagined myself as a modern mummy who will listen to her growing up woes. Little did I know that there is more to this than that. I was so overwhelmed. In fact I felt suffocated. I cried out of desperation, out of fear and most of all, out of sadness for Faith. I know the path will not be easy for her. I am weak too, I told God. I can’t do this alone.

It’s common for us to overlook the fact that being normal is actually a luxury that not everyone can claim to have enjoyed. Too often are we caught up with what society deems is important and consequently miss out on the smaller details that forms the bigger picture. I can’t be sure if I’ll ever have millions of dollars to donate to funding but what I will attempt to do is spread some awareness through this blog.