From the Margins to the Mainstream: Responding to Rising Rates of Autism

A Developmental Disabilities Watch Forum.

A fast-growing number of people receiving government-funded developmental disabilities services in New York are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. And in city schools, the number of pupils with autism has increased 72 percent in only five years. How are government, service providers, schools and parents responding? Will changes in these systems affect all people with developmental disabilities? What happens to young people with autism when they transition from school to adult life?

Speakers: Diana Jones Ritter, Commissioner, New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) Margery Ames, Executive Director, Inter-Agency Council of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Andrew Baumann, President and CEO, New York Families for Autistic Children

Moderator: Clare Ansberry, author, award-winning journalist and Wall Street Journal Pittsburgh Bureau Chief

Supported by the FAR Fund, the Sirus Fund, the Ira W. DeCamp Foundation and the Milano Foundation.