MSNBC 

"New York City's Empire State Building will shine blue Tuesday night in honor of the sixth annual World Autism Awareness Day, a syndrome which, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, could affect at least one million children in the U.S.

"Bob and Suzanne Wright, founders of the advocacy organization Autism Speaks, joined MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Tuesday to talk about the event that has landmarks including the International Space Station and Rockefeller Center "lighting it up blue," to shine a light on autism awareness."

Watch the interview of Bob and Suzanne Wright by Andrea Mitchell. Bob Wright talked about community response and insurance coverage. Suzanne said 93 countries are lighting up blue, even the Archdiocese of New York.  All this for a disorder that was practically unknown just 25 years ago. I posted 2 comments.

Fox News 

"Yes, there are many challenges ahead of us, but the future looks brighter than ever. I say this because as a parent of a 15-year-old autistic child, Ryan, I've seen with my own eyes how early intervention and all the hard work that his teachers and therapists have put in over the years have made a difference.

"No doubt, we have issues. But now, along with his autistic idiosyncrasies, I'm also dealing with a teenage boy who's into girls, demanding his privacy, and worrying about what he's going to wear to school - just like any 15-year-old kid would."

What's going on here? Instead of telling us that something is really wrong and we need to do something to stop it, Fox News is the spinning the nightmare into a success story. How do you do that when the subject is an epidemic destroying our children right before our eyes? You pretend that things really aren't so bad. I'm so glad Dr. Manny's autistic son is acting like a typical teen. Too bad we have to close our eyes to those kids his age who are nonverbal, still in diapers, having seizures, and a danger to themselves and to others.  I posted 2 comments.

Catholic News Agency 

"The Vatican is observing World Autism Awareness Day by calling on Christians to recognize the Risen Christ in autistic people and increase solidarity with them.

"'The Council wishes to share with people who suffer because of autism, the hope and certainty that adherence to Love enables us to recognize the Risen Christ every time that he makes himself our neighbor on the journey of life,' said the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski."

As a Catholic, this PR from the Vatican makes me so angry. I fail "to recognize the Risen Christ in autistic people" because I don't think they had autism back in Christ's day. This is a call for acceptance, when we need a demand for answers. This calls for rights for people with autism without asking why they have autism in the first place.

I posted two comments.

NorthJersey.com 

"'In our school alone, there are a lot of kids with autism,' said Verona High School junior Nikita Joshi of why she decided to organize a 14-hour dance-a-thon to benefit Autism Speaks. The event will take place in the school gym on Saturday, April 6. It starts at 9 a.m. and goes through 11 p.m....

"Autism Speaks is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism as well as increasing awareness and advocating for the needs of those with autism and their families, according to autismspeaks.org."

I posted comments about how Autism Speaks board member, Holly Robinson Peete and co-founder, Bob Wright's daughter both believe vaccines caused their sons' regression into autism. 

CBS Pittsburgh 

"Tuesday, April 2, is World Autism Day. It's a day of support for those whose loved ones lack the ability to communicate, or process thoughts, in a normal manner - family members with autism.

"Excela Health in Norwin is sponsoring the 'Laurel Highlands Walk for Autism Speaks' at Idlewild Park, on May 19.

"Walk co-chair Dr. Rebecca Quel understands a condition that hits very close to home. She and husband Dave Quel play patiently with five-year-old Steven, one of three sons with autism."

It's amazing that the parents seem to be so willing to accept the situation of three sons with a disorder that was practically unknown 25 years ago. Where is a demand for answers?

CBS News 

 "Suzanne and former NBC chief Bob Wright founded the organization when their grandson was diagnosed with autism.

"'People have to be aware and that's our biggest single issue,' Bob Wright told Metaxas.

"The organization has raised hundreds of millions of dollars but researchers are still looking for a cure."

So why aren't they moving mountains to find the CAUSE OF AUTISM?

ABC News 

"Zachary Stewart, an 11-year-old who goes by the name of 'Bubba,' has been thrown out of two schools and has even been punched in the head during ballet class -- all for having the behavior problems associated with autism.

"But one of the worst blows to his family is a financial one. His insurance company in his home state of Utah, does not pay for diagnosis or treatment of autism -- a spectrum of disorders that now affects 1 in 88, with five times as many boys than girls.

"The bills for Bubba's therapy cost $150 a session, and he does at least one a week. ..."

News reporter on video: "New York City is going blue in honor of World Autism Day and Autism Awareness Month."  I don't know why, but the word, HONOR, seems out-of-place. When the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011, we all wore green and gold in HONOR of the victory. There was a reason to celebrate. Wearing blue in HONOR of a health care nightmare that officially has no known cause or cure and affects two percent of the population makes no sense.

Huffington

"Christian appeared to develop typically, vocalizing, interacting and showing the affectionate behavior of a toddler. Then, approaching his second birthday, things began to change. Christian's behavior altered, at first subtly and then in a more dramatic and obvious fashion. He grew silent and withdrawn as he stared into space and took little notice of those around him. He began to scream and hurl himself onto the ground, and soon became obsessed with drinking baby bottles of milk, up to a dozen in a day. Katie Wright describes her son as entering a "very swift cognitive downward spiral," where he went from speaking hundreds of words to just a few, where there had once been smiles and chatter for grandma, there was now silence. Suzanne Wright calls autism a "kidnapping" -- the process by which a young child is taken from his family.

"Katie and Suzanne were concerned and took Christian to the pediatrician, but they were told not to worry. The doctor suggested that since there was a new baby in the house, and the family had recently moved homes, the emotional turmoil might have unsettled the young boy. Give him a bit of time, they were advised. To Suzanne, who had raised three kids and moved often as Bob moved up the ranks at General Electric, the advice did not ring true. Katie Wright, in hindsight, has said that she regrets taking this advice, that she knew something was wrong and should not have let someone who knew so little about her child put her off...."

I posted comments about how Bob Wright said his daughter believes her son's regression was caused by his vaccines and I also posted what Holly Robinson Peete said about her son's regression after vaccination.

Fox News: 

Dr. Manny Alvarez: "And while most parents often focus on finding a reason for why their child is different..."

Autism mom, Carrie Cariello,

Alvarez calls autism, "this unique characteristic." He talked about parents searching for the "why."

Alvarez: "The first question everybody has, why me or why this child? ...Was it the delivery? Was it something I took during my pregnancy? Is it something in my genes?"

"Do you think parents spend too much time focusing, trying to find out why...instead of enjoying what we've got?"

Cariello: "You have to take the time to appreciate the gifts that he brings to life every single day."

Alvarez: "I fear how the world is going to treat them twenty years from now."

Cariello: "Nearly everyday I worry about what it will be like when Jack's an adult, if he lives independently, if he doesn't live independently."

Alvarez: "The scientific community will continue to try to find answers as to why autism happens. ...I think environmental factors need to be looked at more carefully, especially in pregnant women."

This is ridiculous. Dr. Manny talks about the need for answers while speculating on the future.

Why is the future for these kids such an unknown? It's because we've never had a significant population disabled like this before. He made me so angry with talk about the scientific community's search for answers. They know the answer and they're doing everything possible to cover it up.

Dr. Alvarez sounded worried about the future for all the children with autism today. The reason it's such an unknown is because we've never had a significant disabled population like this before. Whenever we talk about autism, we're talking about CHILDREN with autism. No one has ever found the one in every 50 thirty, forty, and fifty year old with autism.

Alvarez thinks we're spending too much time focused on the WHY. We better start finding answers because the cost of caring for a million children with autism throughout their lifespan is going to bankrupt us.

Huffington 

Geraldine Dawson: "Just two decades ago, autism was a mysterious and somewhat obscure disorder, commonly associated with the movie Rain Man and savantism. It affected an estimated 1 in 5,000 children. "

"How times have changed. Today, thanks to awareness and advocacy efforts, people now have a much better understanding of autism. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now estimates that a staggering 1 in 88 children, including 1 in 54 boys, in the United States has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Another recent federal report presented data that autism prevalence among school-aged children, as reported by parents, is 1 in 50. An Autism Speaks-funded South Korean study, which used a more rigorous methodology, found a prevalence of 1 in 38 students."

"Mysterious" and "Somewhat obscure." These are Dr. Dawson's words to describe an international healthcare disaster. She uses this forum to continue the pretense that someone somewhere is finding answers. There's nothing major here. Her use of the word "prevalence" is a flag for "better diagnosing"---they've always been here, we're just now finding them. There is no demand to find the cause. There's no sense of urgency. The word "environment" appears ONCE with no specific information.

"Public health crisis" is as passionate as she gets about autism and that only appears at the end.