Dear Neighbor:

As part of this April’s recognition of Autism Awareness month, I’m launching a new outreach effort on behalf of the Senate’s Select Committee on Autism. To continue receiving additional newsletters please sign up here.

Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in California, with one in 110 children – including one in 58 boys – being affected by an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Thanks to the efforts of Sacramento parents and researchers, the UC Davis MIND Institute is a globally recognized leader in understanding, treating and supporting children with autism. Parents in our region have worked together to form an incredible network of support for each other and our communities. Many of the ideas and lessons they’ve learned are being adopted by caregivers across our country.

We should all be incredibly proud of the work being done in our community to better understand and one day find a cure for Autism. If you would like to continue to receive updates on the work we’re doing in California to better understand this growing epidemic, please sign-up for our Autism Committee E-Alerts. We’ll send you an e-mail update every two months or so about work being done at the Select Committee, highlight some of our state’s great researchers and share testimonials from parents striving to provide the best treatments possible for their children.

We’ll also maintain a website where these updates and the actions and hearings of the Select Committee on Autism will be archived and accessible.

I hope you take a moment to sign-up.

Toward greater awareness,

Darrell Steinberg, Senate President pro Tempore
6th Senate District
Chair, Senate Select Committee on Autism & Related Disorders

Autism by the Numbers

The numbers are alarming. ASD is now more prevalent than juvenile diabetes, childhood cancer and pediatric AIDS combined. Government statistics suggest that the prevalence rate of ASD is increasing 10-17 percent annually, with more than 24,000 new cases diagnosed nationwide each year. The economic impact of autism is over $90 billion annually. In the last 12 years, there has been greater than a 1000 percent increase in the number of California K-12 students with autism. Our state has seen a 12 fold increase in ASD rates over the past two decades.

April is Autism Awareness Month

In an effort to raise awareness of autism, Senator Steinberg will help kick-off a series of exciting and important events throughout the Sacramento area. To learn more about these events and others relating to Autism Awareness Month, please click here.

Senate Select Committee on Autism & Related Disorders

The Senate Select Committee on Autism & Related Disorders was formed in 2009 to provide a legislative forum for research, analysis, deliberations, and outreach in order to promote policies and legislation to better assist individuals with ASD and their families. For more information about the Committee's work please click here.

How I Became a Parent Advocate

I became involved with autism awareness, funding scientific research and advocacy not long after my twin boys were diagnosed with autism four years ago. I was honored to be asked to serve on the the Sacramento Autism Regional Taskforce. I joined because my family, like many others, struggles every day to ensure our children are offered the same opportunities, experiences, care and consideration as everyone else. When Devan and Ethan were just 18 months old I knew something was not quite right, they were not meeting some of the expected developmental milestones, including verbal communication. I fought for two years to get someone to listen to my concerns; the boys were not diagnosed with autism until they were 3 1/2 years old. We will never know how much progress they could have made two years prior if someone would have listened to our concerns.

My family has been affected and will be affected by all four key areas the Senate Select Committee on Autism is working on. I am pleased to be a part of making improvements in the area of early identification and treatment so that children who can be served, will be served. I value the right to medical insurance and look forward to the day when families affected by ASD are not financially broken by the much-needed medical services, which are not covered by insurance today. I have high hopes for the employment and training of older individuals with autism as I believe that everyone should be given the opportunity to participate in the workplace and make a meaningful difference. One of the situations that parents of people with ASD worry about the most is: How can I live longer to make sure my child is taken care of? Every parent whose child is affected by ASD is gravely concerned about the housing situation and in just a few short years my sons will be adults and we, too, will face difficult decisions about their future and where they will live.

I am using the Internet to let the public know how autism spectrum disorders affect people, and how they can make a difference. Recently I have organized the Sacramento Walk Now for Autism Speaks. Working with a small group of parents and volunteers, we’ve brought together 12,500 people in Sacramento. In just two years, these efforts have raised over $620,000 for scientific research and community grants for autism. Through the use of social networking we can connect people from all over the world, and we will soon launch a Facebook page for the Senate Select Committee to keep the public informed about what we are doing and how they can help.

To learn more about Kristen’s amazing work, please click here.