This is not just a number, this is my child. My world. My everything.
I live with autism from the moment the day begins till the moment it ends. I have to strive everyday to help him get through the obstacles that autism puts in his way. So these are not just numbers to me, these are children. These are lives and families. I feel this overwhelming sadness when I think of how many children are affected by autism and this statistic is for children born in the year 2000. I can only imagine how many born in the same year as Aidan (2009) have been diagnosed. Oh wait, that's right, they are now trying to change the diagnosis criteria so that 55% of the kids will no longer get diagnosed. That's a good way to cover up this mess. Let's just diagnose them with social communication disorder instead.
Parents need answers. We are not against the science......we are asking for science! I think it is safe to say that we are not dealing with a genetic disease here. There is an environmental factor and I wonder what the rate of autism has to be till we start getting answers. This is an epidemic and until you are directly affected by autism it is hard to understand the magnitude of it all. For me and my family this is an everyday burden and we will never give up asking for answers. We can not simply stand by and allow the numbers continue to rise.
