The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public by Anne Dachel

Author:Anne Dachel [Dachel, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2014-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

CELEBRATING AUTISM

“CDC is working with partners to study the prevalence of ASDs over time, so that we can find out if the number of children with these disorders is rising, dropping, or staying the same.”

—From the current website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Every April, there is worldwide recognition of autism. Because of the efforts of Autism Speaks, April is International Autism Awareness Month, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007. That was the same year that the US Congress recognized April as the month for autism awareness and called for more research into the causes of autism.1

Like something on a par with V-E Day in 1945, on Autism Speaks’ website, people can read, “Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness-raising events.”

Autism Speaks asks, “How will you celebrate?”

In 2012, I received an email from Autism Speaks that said, “Join Autism Speaks as we celebrate on April 2. Whether it’s your front porch or city hall, an office party or a banquet, the whole world is going blue to increase awareness about autism.

“Last year, more than 70,000 people pledged to Light It Up Blue to shine a light on autism for World Autism Awareness Day.”

Their site showed scenes of famous places all around the world flooded with blue lights to add to the festivities. Among the landmarks were the Paris Stock Exchange, Al Anoud Tower, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the New York Stock Exchange, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building in New York City, the statute of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Great Buddha at Hyogo in Japan, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and even Niagara Falls.

The email featured the photo of a smiling mother with an adorable little girl who was also smiling. There wasn’t much explanation given on what exactly we have to celebrate, and, after reading countless autism stories in the news, I think a more appropriate color for the month would be black.

On Autism Awareness Day in 2013, the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, delivered his annual message on autism. (He is from South Korea and became the Secretary General of the UN in 2007.)2

His message has been largely unchanged since 2008: All we need is attention, inclusion, awareness, support, understanding, and commitment. I wonder if Ban Ki-moon noticed that when he became Secretary-General in 2007, the autism rate was one in every 150 children, and today it’s one in 50 children. There wasn’t any alarm over the ever-increasing numbers. There was no call for answers. No acknowledgement of how severely many children are impacted by autism or any mention of the cost. It seems his message is scripted according to CDC guidelines: sound concerned, but never call autism a crisis.

The same is true of the press in the US, especially in April, when we’re all supposed to be talking about awareness. Last year, in April 2013, there were a number of stories about autism published around the US. They typically called for awareness.

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