Are You Aware?


Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has received a good deal of media attention over the past few years. However, most people are still unaware of the scale and impact of ASD. 


Here are a few facts to help you understand what we’re up against. 


Prevalence


  • It’s estimated that one in every 110 children is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined (1)
  • 1 to 1.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder (1)
  • Autism diagnosis’ increase at a rate of 10 - 17 % annually (1)
Economic Cost

  • Recent studies have estimated that the lifetime cost to care for an individual with an ASD is $3.2 million (3)
  • Currently, care for autistic people carries a price tag of $60 billion annually (2)
  • 60% of these costs are in adult services (2)
  • In 10 years, the annual cost of caring for autistic people will be $200-400 billion (2)
Difficulty Finding Gainful Employment 

  • Only 21% of all adults with disabilities participate in the labor force (2)
  • The percentage of young adults with autism who have a job is only approximately half that of all young adults with disabilities. (4)
  • Only 26% of employed young adults with autism have full time jobs (4)
  • The average salary of a young adult with autism is $8.90 per hour (4)


[1] http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism 

[2] http://www.autism-society.org/about-autism/facts-and-statistics.html 

[3] http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html 

[4] http://dps.missouri.edu/Autism/AutismFactSheet2011.pdf

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