Next the Ventura County Star argued that previously, autistic adults were put in institutions. 

Sept 22, 2012, Ventura County (CA) Star: Programs help autistic student succeed in college 

“The 19-year-old man is part of a wave of college-going students with autism disorders showing up at college campuses.”

And the Ventura County Star tries to explain the trend.

“It's a dramatic change from the 1960s, when many autistic people were more likely to be locked in institutions in California. The college trend is driven not only by the growing number of diagnosed people, but by early intervention programs, educators said.”

It seems that the institutionalized ASD adults of the 1960s are today’s autistic college students.

Sept 27, 2012, Huffington: Young Adults With Autism Seek Out White-Collar Careers For First Time “Some researchers estimate that up to 1 percent of U.S. adults have ASDs -- about 3 million people -- but the range in severity and the historical stigmas surrounding autism have made it hard for scientists to collect population data. The unemployment estimates take the entire population into account, including those with severe symptoms.

“There is currently no established cause of autism (though theories abound), nor is there a cure.

“Another pressing mystery for researchers is why diagnoses of autism among children in the U.S. jumped 70 percent between 2002 and 2008 -- from one in every 150 kids to one in every 88. Autism Speaks, a large national nonprofit, has estimated that during the next 10 years, more than 500,000 young people with ASDs will turn 18.

“But if current trends continue, many of them won't receive the basic education required to join the competitive workforce.”

‘If the current trends continue…’?  Epidemic increases in autism are reduced to ‘current trends.’

“Despite the evidence, Bell said, some educators are still unequipped to address the needs of kids with developmental disabilities and above-average IQs.

“‘We clearly have a crisis looming,’ said Brenda Weitzberg, the founder of Aspiritech, a Chicago nonprofit that employs young adults with autism. She warns that unless there are adequate jobs available, even the most effective skills training will be of little use.

‘I have no doubt that more of these kids are going to be better prepared’ for high school and college, Weitzberg said. ‘But after they finish school, then what's going to happen to them?’

“‘Some people refer to it as the autism tsunami,’ said Bell. Unless more employment opportunities are created for people with autism in the coming years, hundreds of thousands of young adults with autism will join the ranks of the unemployed or underemployed.”

Oct 2, 2012, Cape Cod News: Parents plan campus for autistic adults

“Yet there is a ‘tsunami’ of people who have been diagnosed with autism in the last decade.

“‘From my research on the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, 282 kids with a diagnosis of autism are now in the Cape and Islands schools,’ Bob Jones said.

“These children will be graduating from the system within 12 years, he said. Particularly for those with more severe forms, they'll need a community, he said.

“‘We want a place for our son from now until he's a senior citizen,’ Bob Jones added.

“The couple found out their son was autistic when he was 3. At the time, in 1988, such a diagnosis was rare, about one in 10,000, he said.

“By 2008, one in 88 people was diagnosed with some form of the disorder, which can range from mild disabilities to severe and can include mental retardation.

“Today, one in 54 boys is diagnosed with autism, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And that costs the United States $90 billion annually, according to the Autism Society of America.”

 

Oct 4, 2012, San Francisco Chronicle: Experts brace for wave of autistic adults 

“…But he's also autistic, part of the generation of young adults who were born during the first big wave of autism cases in the United States two decades ago and are now struggling to strike out on their own.”

“It was in the late 1980s and early '90s that rates of autism started skyrocketing in the United States. A condition that once was considered rare, with fewer than 2 cases per 1,000 births in the United States, is now thought to afflict 1 in 88 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's unclear exactly what has caused the increase, but factors could include greater awareness and better diagnosing of the condition, as well as an actual rise in cases, perhaps related to environmental factors.”

“It's not just a problem for the autistic children and adults, but for their families - especially for the parents, many of whom worry they won't be able to care for their adult children much longer.

“‘I hear from parents in the Baby Boomer generation who have kids in their 30s now,’ said Kurt Ohifs, executive director of Pacific Autism Center for Education in Santa Clara. ‘They come to me and say, I'm afraid to die, because who's going to care for my son or daughter?'”

Oct 5, 2012, Springfield (MO) News Star: New job program in Springfield prepares clients with autism 

“Autism has become an increasingly used identification for determining eligibility for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Meanwhile, the first wave of children diagnosed in large numbers with autism in the early 1990s is growing into adulthood.”

Oct 5, 2012 Urbandale (IA) Patch: 'Tsunami' of Autistic Adults Will Challenge Police; More Training  

"’The tsunami of autistic adults is beginning to arrive. We'd better be ready or we will continue to have tragic outcomes in these situations,’ wrote Sherry Cook, a Lexington, KY, parent of an autistic child,…” 

"’You can say it's more children being diagnosed. You can call it a tsunami or an epidemic, but nobody is really questioning that the CDC is wrong in their prevalence rate,’ said Debbaudt, a Florida private investigator, whose son's diagnosis prompted him to form a company that specializes in training on autism.”

Oct 13, 2012, The Orange County (CA) Register: $255,000 raised at autism walk in Irvine 

“With the passing of time, there are more autistic adults who need to find jobs, housing and social opportunities like all adults, according to Phillip Hain, west region director of Autism Speaks. He has an adult son with the developmental disorder.”

"’I am petrified for my son when he gets older,’ says Sara Kelly of Corona. ‘He will be 200 pounds (when he's 18), and he's still having extreme outbursts. How am I going to handle that?’”

Finally, on Oct 26, 2012, I found the story, Lexington's Lurie Center focuses on autism research and care In the Lexington (MA) Minuteman. 

“While the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder continues to evolve, a generation of people diagnosed as children in the 1990s has grown into adulthood. With autism research primarily focused on children, adults on the autism spectrum are left with fewer options for health care services.

‘‘There are very few places in the country that take care of adults, even though there are more adults with autism than children with autism,’ said ‘Lurie Center Director Dr. Christopher McDougle. “We believe in taking care of people for life.”

When McDougle, a clinical psychiatrist, started working with autistic patients in the late 1980s, the occurrence of autism was only two to four people in every 10,000. Today, one in 88 is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.”

The only way this story makes any sense is if you totally accept that changes in the diagnosis account for the epidemic numbers of autism among children everywhere.  Dr. McDougle said, “There are more adults with autism than children with autism.”  If that were really true, then there’d be no concern about all the coming adults with autism.  They would go where autistic adults have always gone.  The problem is no one has ever been able to show us the one in 88 adults with autism.  

So will we happily accept the autism epidemic among adults as these children age?  Will taxpayers willingly support the increases that will be necessary to support all the group homes and the services autistic adults will need? 

If things continue like this, no questions asked, autism will become a fact of life for all age groups and we won’t remember a world where a significant part of the population wasn’t autistic.  The autism puzzle piece will become a common feature on stores, restaurants and other places to show where people are trained to deal with those with ASD.   We also have to remember, looking at the current rate, if one in every 88 Americans has autism; the other 87 are going to have to pay for that person.  And if we accept that the costs can range from $3.2 million to $7 million per individual, the price tag will be huge.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.