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Autism may be one of the hottest disability topics for this year’s presidential candidates. All the major candidates have addressed it in some way, which isn’t surprising, given the rapid rise in autism (1 in 150) and all those children with autism have parents and grandparents who are presumably voters.
A site called AutismFACTS has compiled information on the presidential candidates’ stance on autism and the government’s involvement. The information on this website is a bit dated, since most of the original candidates are still posted there. But for the big three, AutismFACTS gives both Clinton and Obama a “C” and McCain a “C-“. They give Ron Paul a “B”.
Clinton has sponsored several autism-related pieces of legislation while in office, the most recent of which is the “Expanding the Promise of Individuals with Autism Act”, S. 937. This act is largely for research into treatment, interventions and services for people with autism, and for training educators and others about what works. She is one of the few senators to join the Congressional Autism Caucus.
Obama is a co-sponsor on the “Expanding the Promise of Individuals with Autism Act”, S. 937. But he doesn’t have the same track-record in supporting autism research and treatment related legislature as Clinton does.
McCain is scoring lower on the AutismFACTS website, but I suspect that it before the response he gave to a mother of an autistic child in February. The mother had asked, at a Texas townhall meeting, about the recent judgment in favor of an unnamed autistic child whose family claimed regressive encephalopathy and symptoms of autism were caused by thimerosal. McCain said there was “strong evidence” linking thimerosal from vaccines with autism.
Now, depending on what you believe (or should I say who you believe) in this autism science contribution, this bold statement makes McCain either a hero or a crackpot in many people’s book.
From my perspective, I’m just excited that the candidates are noticing the disability. It’s frightening to think about the increased number of cases. It’s maddening to consider how many people try to explain it away that we are doing a better job of diagnosing autism than before or that the “epidemic” isn’t real. Just knowing that presidential candidates are taking a stand is enough to say that it’s a major issue to Americans.
How much any of the legislature that Clinton has supported will help children with autism remains to be seen. And just because McCain believes there’s evidence of a link between vaccines and autism, doesn’t mean he’ll address it as president. But it does look as if all three of the major candidates at least have an awareness of the importance of addressing autism in the next presidency.
Fabulous and timely post. Thumbs up!