Autism Still Rising in Australia

According to the Australian Broadcasting Company News two new independent studies from Melbourne's La Trobe University indicate that autism is on the rise in Australia. Official Australian estimates of 1 in 160 are now being challenged by the two studies one of which reports an incidence of 1 in 119 persons affected by an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. A second study from La Trobe using much smaller study group reports a 1 in 100 figure.

The usual "we don't know if the increase is real, or is the result of better diagnosis" stuff is quoted in the ABC News article. Maybe we should just assume that the increasing rates of autism in Australia, and elsewhere in the world, are due entirely to better diagnosis and increased awarness. Like the famous three monkeys we could cover our eyes and ears and ignore the autism epidemic.

Perhaps like Dorothy from the other Oz we can just click our heels three times and wish that autism were not actually rising, that there were no environmental factors causing increases in autism. Or maybe we could do the research necessary to determine what environmental factors are causing the autism increases.

We really don't need any wizards telling us it is all in our heads.

autism