Are you the parent of a child who has autism? AutismSpeaks wants you to get involved, politically, to make this country a better place for your child (and for children like him or her). AutismSpeaks wants all public officials to recognize autism as an urgent public health crisis. Adding your voice can help.
AutismSpeaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization. The group is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and a cure for autism. They also want to increase awareness of autism spectrum disorders. They advocate for the needs of individuals who have autism and also for the needs of their families.
In the year 2000, 1 out of every 88 babies born in the United States went on to develop an autism spectrum disorder. The United States only spent about $50 million on research for autism in 2000.
Now, thanks to push from the community, the United States appropriates about $235 million per year to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense for research and services that are related to autism. That change came about due to new laws. AutismSpeaks wants you to get politically active on behalf of your child, and on behalf of the other Americans who have an autism spectrum disorder.
Autism Speaks has created 2012 Policy Principles. They want all candidates who are running for President or Congress in 2012 to commit to these principles in establishing federal autism policy. The group is calling for a focused, coordinated, and accountable response by our public health agencies to support the creation of meaningful interagency structure and process to help address the autism epidemic.
The group also wants a broader initiative to unlock the secrets of the human brain that would produce dramatic results in the research about autism. This could result in an improved quality of life for Americans who have autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other mental health conditions.
They also want to end insurance marketplace discrimination against people who have autism. They want health care reform efforts, and health insurance reform efforts, to include affordable access to evidence-based autism treatments (including applied behavior analysis, or ABA).
AutismSpeaks is not going to tell you who to vote for. Rather, they want you to be aware of each candidate’s views on the 2012 Policy Principles set forth by AutismSpeaks. Vote for the candidates that are going to help those who have an autism spectrum disorder. The 1 in 88, and their families, cannot wait for things to someday get better. They need your help, to make things better, right now!
Image by DonkeyHotey on Flickr