As shown above, the latest data (January 2023) from California’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS) indicates that DDS Autism cases have jumped to nearly 160,000 (159,861) cases, representing nearly 50% (47.75%) of the DDS caseload.
The Autism caseload in DDS has increased nearly 50-fold since 1989, when cases numbered 3,262.
Source: California Department of Developmental Services, pursuant to Public Records Act request
Jill Escher is president of the National Council on Severe Autism and the mother of two children with nonverbal forms of autism. Through the Escher Fund for Autism she promotes and funds research on the genetic toxicology of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions, and she has served on the governing council of the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, where she co-chairs its Germ Cell and Heritable Effects special interest group. She was president of Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area from 2013 to 2019 and, through her family business, Claradon Properties, provides housing to adults with developmental disabilities in the Bay Area. See more of her work at jillescher.com.
