We are heading toward 5% of all U.S. males being disabled by autism. Yet academia and the media blandly accept this horror as a new normal.
By Jill Escher
Over the years I have been at odds with many autism advocacy groups, most notably those who blame vaccines for autism, or who tout autism as some sort of treatable immune disorder. The evidence simply does not support those views, and many have been harmed by anti-vaccine and faux therapeutic ideas related to them. I will admit even the words “Age of Autism” make me cringe.
But there is one area where we have strong agreement: the terrible reality of the steep escalation in rates of serious brain dysfunction we call autism. The evidence for this dramatic surge is simply overwhelming from nearly all corners: clinical records, educational records, state disability programs, epidemiological studies, Social Security, Medicaid, and more. No matter the source one can easily see a 20- or 40-fold, or more, increase in autism over recent decades. And, no, there is no evidence whatsoever that we simply missed hundreds of thousands, or millions, of seriously cognitively and functionally disabled children in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. In fact, based on robust data this is plainly impossible, as I discussed in a recent blogpost here.
Nevertheless — just like the ghastly Refrigerator Mother myth of yore — the “it’s all just better ascertainment” idea, no matter how data-free and devoid of evidence, has taken hold like a panther on its prey. This new myth of autism has become so ingrained that even Autism Speaks has joined the ranks denying any increase in the prevalence of autism, as discussed here. Which should disgust the entire autism community.
With all that in mind I would like to acknowledge a brief video recently put out by SafeMinds. It features Walter Zahorodny, PhD, one of the investigators in the CDC’s ADDM monitoring network. It’s only about 5 minutes, and it’s worth watching. This is the front-page news that’s been missing from our front pages for years. No, I don’t agree with SafeMinds on many things, but this video is spot-on.
We are experiencing a double-whammy nightmare: a nation careening toward 5% of all U.S. males being disabled by autism, based on the most recent data from New Jersey, which Dr. Zahorodny considers a leading indicator, and a concurrent yawn from academia and the media, both of which blandly accept this horror as a new normal. Classrooms full of kids who can’t talk or learn, while they shred their clothes and pick off their skin? Entirely normal! We just didn’t notice them before. Droves of young adults unable to care for themselves and dependent on costly (and tragically scarce) 24/7 care? We must not have counted them before!
As a consequence of rampant autism denialism, while suffering and panic spread across our country, we have no serious national discourse about long-term needs, or even potential causes, all while research dollars keep flowing to dead-end, incremental studies that do nothing to help autism families today. And meanwhile “disability rights” advocates who consider autism a “gift of neurodiversity” rather than a devastating neurodevelopmental disorder, work to de-fund programs serving the severely disabled. It’s so absurd I feel like I live in Autism Twilight Zone.
New Jersey now suffers a 3% overall autism rate (boys and girls), yet as Dr. Zahorodny points out, no one seems to find this fact distressing or shocking. “If we said that 3% of the children in our country had a hearing impairment or a visual impairment, I think that would be taken as a real urgent issue that would call for lots of research and investigation.” Yet with autism — a condition far more serious, costly, and disabling — we get the nationwide shoulder shrug.
NCSA also featured Dr. Zahorodny in a recent webinar, Autism’s Continued Climb, which you can access here.
Jill Escher is President of the National Council on Severe Autism. She is also a research philanthropist focusing on questions of non-genetic inheritance in autism.
Disclaimer: Blogposts on the NCSA blog represent the opinions of the individual authors and not necessarily the views or positions of the NCSA or its board of directors.