Katherine Harris on the Requirements to be a Congressperson

hey ben you should cover this....

For a long time we’ve just been told that the reason there seems to be more autistic children is because of "better diagnosing" by health care officials and "greater awareness" on the part of schools and others. It is becoming apparent that those explanations cannot possibly account for the 6,000 percent increase in the last twenty years, from one in 10,000 to the very frightening figure of one in every 166 children. The most recent numbers from the state of Oregon put the rate there at one in every 120 children. With 80 percent of autistic Americans under the age of eighteen, this looms a potential welfare disaster when these individuals can longer be cared for by family members.

As scary as these figures are, they don’t seem to be considered a major concern yet by many. The attitude of medical and education professionals seems to be one of acceptance, not alarm. When we hear the word "epidemic," polio is usually the first thought that comes to mind, not autism. Many people can remember the frightening time of the polio epidemic in the 1950’s. This devastating disease affected hundreds of thousands of Americans.

As tragic as polio was, the numbers don’t come close to those for autism. At the height of the polio epidemic in 1952, polio infected one in every 4,000 Americans. The government, medicine, and the press sounded the alarm over polio. Everyone from the President to local officials addressed it. Magazines and newspapers continually reported on it.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=11160