[Staci]

These days I hear a lot of news and coverages of autism. In the past, I kept asking myself why was I so different from others and what was wrong with me until I learned of autism in 2004.Were there any news or coverages of autism in 1990-2003? In K-12, I never heard the word"autism"and I was never tested for autism. If I had known about my autism back then, I would have gotten help.Did autism start to become high profile and well known through the media in 2004? If not, when?

[Person With Disabilities]

The movie"Rain Man"came out in 1988. This was the first time that I heard about Autism being mentioned in the media.

[sweet sienna]

reseach connected the MMR vaccine with autism around 2004 although was not conclusive

[chiliswoman]

Haven't you asked this same question before? There are many things that put autism in the forefront of media. The main thing is the explosion of children who were diagnosed with it whose (affluent) parents are in the technology field. They are much more savvy about networking online and getting far reaching attention. They demanded and got more people involvement in therapeutic interventions and research.

[chris1h23]

Please don't get mad at me...but autism has always been around ..it just in the early days it was called mental retardation..Would this be consider the same....if not please explain the different.,..thank you...

[why so?]

Because so many more people are getting diagnosed than ever before,especially the higher functioning autistic s,such as Asperger people. Asperger wasn't officially recognized in the United States until 1994,then the rates of autism started to skyrocket because the definition of Autistic Spectrum Disorders was now broadened,thanks to the asperger addition in the DMV -4 manual as well.

[happy]

As autism is a fairly recent diagnosis and not really classified until the 1940's we are just beggining to understand the condition. Also as autism and the related disorders are all on a very large spectrum classified by the triad of impairments there are still vast differences between sufferers. I don't think more people have autism but we are starting to recognise it more and so it is beggining to get the media attention it deserves. Back in the early 1990's very little was known about autism and only the most profound cases were diagnosed the rest were classed as odd or eccentric. I have a relative who was recently diagnosed as having Asperger syndrome at the age of 69. The more we learn about autism the more we can help people with the right support.

[deblee60]

Probably when it affected some famous rich persons life.Debbie O

I have a cousin in his 30s who has autism. He was diagnosed when he was 8. Before that it was a hearing problem, mental retardation, childhood schizophrenia, and various other labels. Chris is fortunate. His autism allows him to work in a sheltered environment and he lives in a wonderful group home. My uncle (his father) is a very good businessman and has set things up so that Chris will always be taken care of. However, back when we were learning about autism with Chris it was very poorly understood. My aunt and uncle were told it was their fault, because the didn't really want him. Treatment was just beginning to be researched. Now, my 4 1/2 year old grandson with autism is a completely different story. With ABA and PECS he is becoming more verbal every day. He attends a special school from September until the third week in July. We attend monthly meetings at the school to learn tips on how to better interact with Aidan. He has another year of his preschool classes and then they are expecting to put him in a regular classroom. (Although he'll probably have to have an aide.) His future is unknown but it is far and away more promising than my cousin's was. Autism is growing, even after you take into account the broader definition. There's no question that we live in an increasingly toxic world and it's pretty clear to me that it's starting to take a toll on our children. (I'm more than a little concerned about our vaccine schedules too, but I won't go into that.) I don't know exactly when Autism started becoming higher profile. I think it's been growing over the past 10 years, really. But I'm glad that it has. Everything we learn about Autism helps children like my grandson, and I'm all for that. ;D

Rain-man was based on a man with Autism that brought some awareness and also a woman with Autism wrote an autobiathoryBut there is more awaring about disabilities and I know when I find out I had dyspraxia it was good knowing what I had.