Light It Up Blue

World Autism Awareness Day is April 2 and April is Autism Awareness Month.  While Fiona no where near being on the autism spectrum, I do have friends whose children have been diagnosed at autistic.  One of the methods used to raise awareness about the increasing prevalence of autism is to "Light It Up Blue."  To support this, my blog is going from pink to blue for the month of April.

Did you know (courtesy of Autism Speaks)...

• Autism now affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys
• Autism prevalence figures are growing
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs the nation $126 billion per year
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Prevalence vs. Private Funding

• Leukemia: Affects 1 in 1,200 / Funding: $277 million
• Muscular Dystrophy: Affects 1 in 100,000 / Funding: $162 million
• Pediatric AIDS: Affects 1 in 300 / Funding: $394 million
• Juvenile Diabetes: Affects 1 in 500 / Funding: $156 million
• Autism: Affects 1 in 88 / Funding: $79 million

National Institutes of Health Funds Allocation

• Total 2011 NIH budget: $30.5 billion
• Of this, only $169 million goes directly to autism research. This represents 0.6% of total NIH funding.

As the prevalence of autism continues to increase, I can't help but wonder if it's increasing because we're better at diagnosing the symptoms or if there's something (environmental, biological, other) that's causing the increase.  I don't have an answer, but just something to think about.