(Newswire.net — January 5, 2015) — In the US alone, more than 1.5 million people, most of them below 22-years-old, have been diagnosed with autism. The charts and graphs predict a severe increase in that number in the next few years. Experts believe, however, that the US is unprepared for this possible ‘autism tsunami’.
“The current system we have right now is woefully inadequate,” says Angela Lello, director of housing and community living at Autism Speaks. “There are lots of long waiting lists. In some states, it can take as long as 10 years to gain access to [these support] services.”
Autism is medically defined as developmental disorder that impair social, communication and behavioral skills, however, there are numerous cases of autistic people that finished colleges, find jobs, get married and live their life healthy as possible. Still there are much more of those who need partial or full supervision and assistance to navigate even the most basic tasks of everyday life.
“A person who is nonverbal or who has significant intellectual disability will require substantial support in adulthood, and fully independent living will not be possible,” says Thomas Challman, medical director and neurodevelopmental pediatrician with the Geisinger Health System Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute in Pennsylvania.
Each state in the US offers Medicaid-funded programs for people with autism. These services include help for adults that no longer have the support of parents, who were took care of their autistic child as long as they could. Yet, “since more than 50,000 individuals with autism transition into adulthood every year, the support services are already being outpaced by their demand,” said Lello.
President Barack Obama recently signed the Education and Support Act of 2014, which among others address to the Autism Collaboration, Accountability and Research programs. Also known as the Autism CARES Act, it will give $1.3 billion over five years to fund autism research and detect gaps in support for children and adults with autism
Just before Christmas, however, some media started spinning stories of an alleged connection between GMO food and autism, citing MIT’s Senior Research Scientist who warned that vaccines and GMO food causes autism. Stephanie Seneff pulled graphs that predicted that HALF of US children could be autistic by 2025.
In a special panel discussion about GMO last Thursday. She noted that the side effects of autism closely mimic those of glyphosate toxicity, and presented data showing a remarkably consistent correlation between the use of Roundup on crops (and the creation of Roundup-ready GMO crop seeds) with rising rates of autism.
The scientists, however, soon came up with research and graphs disputing Seneff’s claim, saying she had misinterpreted the data because biology and medicine is far from her expertise in computer science. Nonetheless, statistics do confirm that the number of autistic children shows an increase of 30 percent from just two years ago.