Get the word out.

If you’re a scrapbooker, you probably know of Ali Edwards… she’s an amazing artist and an even more amazing mom.  Her 5 year old son, Simon, was diagnosed with Autism when he was 3.  Since his diagnosis, she has done so much work to raise awareness of Autism as well as raise money for the research and cure for this disability.  She has found a new social network set up by Kevin Bacon (yes, the Kevin Bacon) called www.SixDegrees.org in partnership with Network for Good.  The basics are this… you can create a Six Degrees Social Badge (which she did, and it can be shared… as I’ve added it to my blog) to raise money for a cause.  The six badges that have the most number of donations between January
18th and March 31st at 11:59pm ET will get a matching grant from Kevin
Bacon. AWESOME.  (Multiple donations from a single individual to the same Six
Degrees Charity Badge will only be counted once.)   

Here is a little information about Autism…

(I also found a What is Autism Video from a link on Ali’s blog… it give a quick rundown for those that don’t know much, or anything, about this disability. )

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears
during the first three years of life. Some children develop and behave completely normal until a year old, or more, and then autism strikes.  Autism is the fastest growing disability in the United States. A child is
diagnosed with autism every 21 minutes and it now affects one in every
166 children, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Autism affects 4 times as many boys as it does girls.  At this time, scientists do not know exactly what causes autism.
Because no two people with autism are alike, autism is likely to be the
result of many causes.

QUICK FACTS about autism (from AutismSpeaks.com)
Did you know…

• 1 in 166 children is diagnosed with autism
• 1 in 104 boys is on the autism spectrum
• 67 children are diagnosed per day
• A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Incidence vs. Private Funding

• Leukemia: Affects 1 in 25,000 / Funding: $310 million
• Muscular Dystrophy: Affects 1 in 20,000 / Funding: $175 million
• Pediatric AIDS: Affects 1 in 8,000 / Funding: $394 million
• Juvenile Diabetes: Affects 1 in 500 / Funding: $130 million
• Autism: Affects 1 in 166 / Funding: $15 million

National Institutes of Health Funds Allocation

• Total 2005 NIH budget: $29 billion
• Of this, only $100 million goes towards autism research. This represents 0.3% of total NIH funding.