Escalating autism numbers require immediate action

On March 29, the Public Health Agency of Canada released a report that estimates that in 2015 one in every 66 Canadians aged five to 17 years old was diagnosed with autism. In 2010, it was one in 94. This is a 40 per cent increase in a neurological disorder that was practically unknown until the 1980s.

We all learned about autism from the movie “Rain Man,” and the popular image of a person with autism is of a smart but emotionally unconnected person.

Unfortunately, that is not a realistic picture.

One in every four people with autism doesn’t speak. People with autism die 16 years earlier than the rest of us. There is an 80 per cent unemployment rate among adults. And it turns out that Kim Peek, the model for “Rain Man,” didn’t even have autism.

Although the common wisdom is that autism is probably a result of a combination of genes and environmental insult, no specific genetic or environmental factor has been found. Because of the quick rise, it appears that an environmental factor is driving the increase.

How can we just shrug our shoulders and ignore that something in our modern society is triggering this in our children? We need to figure this out before another five years brings us another 40 per cent increase.

Kathryn Craig

Waterloo