One good thing that comes from so much media attention is that at least people are asking a lot more questions, instead of ignoring Autism as "not my problem."
I do have some problems with the way it's being reported for the most part though.
http://sanjayguptamd.blogs.cnn.com/2012 ... as-autism/
Notice in this and many other reports that they talk a lot about the sudden rise, concerns about what really causes Autism and whatnot, and even that "We're paying more attention to it" as being another reason for the sudden rise (IOW: It's being diagnosed more, and not being missed as much), but...
Hardly ever does one hear that one of the reasons could very well be that diagnosis of much higher functioning forms of Autism than in the past are also very likely to be a reason the numbers are rising. Thus, I do think a lot of news watchers and readers see reports like this, and think only of lower functioning Autism, as if 1 in 88 has full blown Classic Autism, which is clearly not true. This, I believe, contributes to a kind of mass hysteria the likes of which videos and articles from Autism Speaks frequently help to create.
It's not an accurate picture, and the media and medical professions both, in general, are not doing enough to educate the public.
The public should know that Autistics who can function on their own to a great extent is one very important reason these numbers are rising. That it is not a scourge, not the impending end of the world, nor the impending end of normalcy.
NO! It isn't as bad as the picture the media allows to exist in people's minds, but it is worthy of attention. I just wish the attention it did get, painted the complete picture instead of letting the public conjure pictures of their own that are not accurate at all.
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I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...