Disability Scoop

5 days ago | disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament

Autism advocates are pushing back after U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that kids who are on the spectrum will never have a job, play baseball, go on a date and more. At a press conference last week in response to new data showing that autism rates are rising, Kennedy painted a grim picture of life with the developmental disability. “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They will never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem.

1 week ago | disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament

Federal officials are releasing new data showing that the estimated number of U.S. children with autism has increased once again. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that 1 in 31 children are on the autism spectrum. The figures published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are based on information collected on 8-year-olds in 16 communities in 2022 through the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring, or ADDM, network.

2 weeks ago | disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament

The nation’s top health official is promising to determine by this fall why autism rates have surged in recent decades. In a cabinet meeting Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services said that his agency is working to find out what’s behind the rapid rise in prevalence of the developmental disability and he committed to an ambitious deadline to reach a conclusion.

2 weeks ago | disabilityscoop.com | Olivia Olander |Jeremy Gorner

CHICAGO — Aaron Bass likes some things about Shapiro Developmental Center, a home he shares with some 500 others on a site along the Kankakee River that first housed Illinois residents with disabilities nearly 150 years ago. He enjoys spending time outdoors, playing bingo and supervised outings to Burger King, the dollar store or local library to check out scary movies. But Bass, a 39-year-old who has a moderate intellectual disability, said he is seeking something greater.

2 weeks ago | disabilityscoop.com | Shaun Heasley

A major home furnishings retailer is introducing a new line of products designed to make life easier for people with disabilities. Ikea said this month that it is rolling out a collection of accessible items for the home. The line known as Bäsingen includes a shower chair, two different step stools and a handful of bathroom accessories.