Autism Diagnoses Rise Among U.S. Children, CDC Finds

[proverbialwisdom]

40. What are some parents of children with autism saying online about all this? ACTION ALERT, MOBILIZE!

http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/03/dachel-media-update-autism-climbs-to-1-in-50-kids.html#more

COMMENTS:

From Anne's article:

"The new statistic comes from a national phone survey of more than 95,000 parents in 2011 and 2012."

Think about the wasted "effort" .. in scarce resources and funds .. that supposedly was spent contacting 95,000 parents in one year? That would require contacting at least 260 "parents" a DAY .. for 365 days straight. How many people would it take to conduct such a survey?

Did the CDC really squander so much effort conducting a survey they KNEW would be attacked for it's flawed methodolody? If so .. the question is: WHY?

Posted...March 21, 2013 at 07:59 AM

http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/03/president-obama-1-in-50-american-kids-with-autism-.html

President Obama: 1 in 50 American Kids with Autism?

Summary and link to Action Alert Announcement, below.

http://capwiz.com/a-champ/issues/alert/?alertid=62527606&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

Take Action: President must act on 1 in 50 Autism Rate
Fire Thomas Insel, Head of the IACC

     As most have you have probably heard, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the autism rate among American children in the US is now 1 in 50, and since boys outnumber girls with autism by a ratio of 4 or 5 to 1, somewhere between 3 and 4 percent of all American boys have an autism spectrum diagnosis.

Read it here: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr065.pdf

     Any expressions of concern from anybody with the power to do something about this disaster? No . And the press, as usual is soft pedaling the findings. Fifteen years ago the autism rate was 1 in 10,000, 12 year ago it was I in 2,500, 10 years ago it was 1 in 1000, and so on. When President Obama was elected in 2008 the official rate was 1 in 150, then it went to 1 in 88 and now it is 1 in 50. Where is it going to stop?

     And Thomas Insel, the federal “Autism Czar” who heads the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, is still wondering, “If there is a true increase in children affected...” Thomas Insel needs to be fired. He is clearly not up to the job.

     In 2008 presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama promised to be the “Autism President.” But what has he done? We are spending far less in research per diagnosed person than we were under George W. Bush.  The only generally recognized method of addressing autism, applied behavior analysis, was left out of the essential health benefits package in Obamacare.  And as we enter his fifth year in office the CDC still can’t even figure out if the rate is really going up. I am reminded of the song by Stevie Wonder, “If you really want to hear our views, you haven’t done nothing. “

     Please click on the Take Action Link to send an email to the President, your two United States Senators and your member of the House and ask when are  they going to take the autism epidemic seriously and do something. We suggest a start by firing Thomas Insel.

     And you might want to call the Whitehouse and ask politely when the President is going to become the “Autism President,” and he should start by firing Insel.

Whitehouse Comments Line 202-456-1111

     Please share this message with friends and family and post to Facebook and other social networks. And if you support the work of the Autism Action Network please like us on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Autism-Action-Network/162315170489749
 

So, the decision becomes do YOU trust the judgement of these parent-activists enough to follow their lead, maybe on faith, or do you sit back? I think the historical moment is analogous to this one, http://nymag.com/news/features/act-up-2012-4/ .

Search your conscience and decide wisely, please.