The NBC Today Show marks UN-designated World Autism Awareness Day with a feature about the disorder, which affects tens of millions of people around the world. Among those highlighted are Autism Speaks founders Bob and Suzanne Wright, developmental pediatrician Cece McCarton, and parents Shelly and Jed Milstein, who have two sons with autism.

Autism Speaks reports that the rate of diagnoses now stands at approximately one in 110 children and one in 70 boys, a rate that has risen 600 percent in the past two decades. McCarton says the increase is caused in part by heightened awareness, but says researchers suspect other factors are involved.

Bob Wright says few school districts are providing appropriate therapies, and the cost of purchasing services privately is crushing the finances of many families. (Related post here.) He says fifteen states have passed measures requiring insurers to cover autism therapies, and says venture capitalists are beginning to work on therapies that might prove to be profitable.

See also:

ESPN: Curt Schilling’s wife pens book about son’s diagnosis with Asperger’s

CNN: Ten sites to check if your child has autism

CNN blog: The latest on autism research

PEB.com: Autism insurance gathers momentum

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 11:03 am and is filed under advocacy, autism, insurance, NOT2BEMISSED. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.