Recently I have noticed more public attention being drawn to children who have autism. This attention is coming from a celebrity; People Magazine and a new TV show called Parenthood. The celebrity who I am referring to is Toni Braxton who is using her experience, as a mother of a son with autism, to raise awareness for a group called Autism Speaks. Through her work she is making the odds of having a child with autism (1/110) prominent along with encouraging people to go to autismspeaks.org to learn the signs of it. Also, in the April 12, 2010 issue of People Magazine there was an article about a family with a son who is autistic titled “Accepting My Son.” The article discusses the acceptance of his father Rodney Peete, a former pro quarterback, of his son’s condition. Peete is currently writing a book along with his daughter about their experiences with his son R.J. The other source of public awareness for autism is on the show Parenthood, which started after the Olympics. On the show, in the first couple of episodes, the parents of a 10 years-old boy discovered that he has autism and it follows their journey and struggles.
This new public eye on autism is raising awareness for those who do not yet know a person who is autistic. This awareness is focused on acceptance and the message that, “it is more common than you think.” With the odds of having an autistic child at 1/110 chances are that eventually everyone will know a person who is autistic. Through publicity parents of new born children might also be more likely to notice the signs of autism in their child and get them help sooner rather than later. Public awareness is the first step in acceptance and this new mass media push will help to make that happen.
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