News-Record of Maplewood, New Jersey

www.localsource.com

Thursday April 17, 2008

WE NEED TO FACE AUTISM HEAD-ON

Therese Ojibway

Fourteen years ago, I began offering my personal perspective on autism for Autism Awareness Month each April. Back then, 1 in 10,000 children were affected by autism. Today, autism spectrum disorder affects on in 96 children in New Jersey. If these statistics carry forward through the next decade, no family in New Jersey-or across America-will be left untouched by autism.

Autism awareness has certainly grown; it seems to make headlines every week. Someone said to me, “Autism is the new “˜in’ thing. Everyone wants to say their child is autistic.”

Autism myth lives on
Why people continue to blame vaccines, despite evidence to the contrary.

By Sam Wang

As the brother of an autistic person and a brain scientist, I have been
hoping that the increased focus on autism in the news would lead to a
greater public understanding of this disorder. Instead, I am angry that
this coverage is spreading dangerous myths.

My sister, Karen, is autistic. In the 1970s, my parents wondered why she
behaved so differently. At the time, a prevalent idea was that an
emotionally distant mother could somehow prevent a child from
understanding emotions or relating normally to others. Our parents had a
simpler idea, that they might have hurt Karen’s head during a bath.