RFK Jr calls rising autism rates an ‘epidemic.’ Autistic people call it a condition to live with
A small increase in the autism rate suggests diagnosis and access to care are improving, researchers say — and don't herald a crisis as the health secretary argues.
A new federal report suggests that U.S. autism rates are rising modestly, an increase that health researchers said reflected expanded diagnostic tools and access to care, among other factors. But health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead has pointed to the data as evidence of a growing crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says that 3.2% of kids surveyed in 2022 have autism spectrum disorder, a slight uptick from the 2.8% of kids surveyed in 2020 for the previous report. The report also confirmed a recent trend that autism prevalence is higher in non-white kids than in white kids.
