US Department of Education Figures On Autism
Number and Change in Number of Children Ages 6-21 Served Under IDEA,
Part B
[Thanks to Ray Gallup of the Autism Autoimmunity Project.]
http://www.IDEAdata.org/tables/ar_aa2.htm
State 1992-1993 1999-2000
Alabama 68 670
Alaska 8 165
Arizona 199 897
Arkansas 30 560
California 1,605 8,376
Colorado 14 350
Connecticut 164 1,032
Delaware 15 248
District of Columbia 0 65
Florida 582 3,114
Georgia 262 1,602
Hawaii 52 198
Idaho 39 239
Illinois 5 2,435
Indiana 273 2,080
Iowa 67 543
Kansas 74 471
Kentucky 38 739
Louisiana 409 1,032
Maine 37 358
Maryland 28 1,551
Massachusetts 493 543
Michigan 288 3,449
Minnesota 296 1,958
Mississippi 0 333
Missouri 336 1,361
Montana 20 127
Nebraska 4 289
Nevada 5 273
New Hampshire 0 268
New Jersey 446 2,378
New Mexico 16 193
New York 1,648 4,951
North Carolina 786 2,391
North Dakota 9 98
Ohio 22 1,574
Oklahoma 31 547
Oregon 37 2,218
Pennsylvania 346 2,707
Puerto Rico 266 408
Rhode Island 19 238
South Carolina 141 717
South Dakota 36 168
Tennessee 304 819
Texas 1,444 5,134
Utah 105 472
Vermont 6 160
Virginia 539 1,714
Washington 476 1,376
West Virginia 101 262
Wisconsin 18 1,445
Wyoming 15 83
50 States, DC & PR 12,222 65,396
The figures Ray received from the NJ Department of Education in April
2001 for 2000-2001 was 2,905.
*
Who You Kidding?
Commentary
Do these numbers listed above really show an increase, or is going
from 12 thousand to 65 thousand just some statistical illusion as most
experts insist? "Autism is not increasing, it's just better diagnosing" is
the most popular alternate explanation offered, and without a shred of
hallowed scientific evidence - just the backyard anecdotal gossiping of
pediatricians. But science can play tricks, one must admit. During this
period of would be autism growth, many significant and possibly causitive
events took place in addition to the way the experts were able to
meteorically improve their ability to spot the disorder.
It may not be just coincidence that the Internet and the World Wide
Web (remember when it used to be called that?) exploded on the scene and the
Democrats ran the White House for almost the whole time. Could autism be
the result of toxic cyberspace and the leadership of roughish politicians?
How often do we hear the recounting of parents who say that Johnny was doing
just fine, starting to say his ABC's until dad came home one day with a
modem for his home computer. "Right after a single incantation of 'You Got
Mail' the poor little guy started flapping is hands and three weeks later
what little he did say, he was stiff talking like Al Gore."
But let's not forget other coincidental expansive factors like the
rapid ascendancy of cell phones, Starbucks Cafes and body tattooing over the
past decade. Maybe it's the cell phone radio waves, or the needles and
inks, or the life-draining side effects of caffeine addiction that reaps up
this surge of autism like during no time before.
The point is that to the experts, the real cause of autism is not the
important issue. What's important is to collect as much evidence as
possible to show that vaccines are not the cause and that there is no real
autism epidemic. Just because all those undiagnosed autistic kids have been
able to escape the experts for almost a decade, doesn't mean that Johnny's
folks can fool them now with vaccine anecdotes.
- Lenny Schafer
*
