Source: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
The newly released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network report finds that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence in the U.S. has increased to 2.8%, or 1 in 36 U.S. children born in 2012 — up from 1 in 44 from the previous report for children born in 2010.
Prevalence among 8-year-old boys was 4.3% nationwide and as high as 6.9% in California.
The policy focus of the new report is centered not around the increasing ASD rates, but rather around a social justice narrative in which disability issues take a back seat to the equity implications.
While the ADDM reports of the 2000s declared rising rates of ASD an “urgent public health concern,” the most recent reports have abandoned that messaging.
The new report’s primary public health action recommendation is to develop “enhanced infrastructure to provide equitable diagnostic, treatment, and support services for all children with ASD.”…