Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area
PO Box 249
San Mateo, CA 94401
Hon. Secretary Diana S. Dooley
California Health and Human Services
1600 Ninth Street, Room 460
Sacramento, CA 95814
October 6, 2014
Re: Public Comment for October 8, 2014 Developmental Services Community Task Force Meeting—Creating a Shared Understanding of the Enormity of the Autism Explosion in California, and the Sweeping Social Service Demands
Dear Honorable Secretary Dooley and Members of the Community Task Force:
We wish again to express our gratitude for your efforts to plan for community-based services to serve the more than quarter-million Californians with developmental disabilities.
Among other things, the task force is charged with examining services for the developmentally disabled in the community “in the context of a growing population.” We feel it important at this time that all stakeholders understand this phrase represents a considerable understatement, as it implies gradual and moderate increase. Instead, we have an almost-logarithmically and continually exploding population, primarily due to autism cases, that began in the early 1980s and continues unabated today.
For that reason—and to help create a foundational, shared understanding of the history and scope of this unprecedented, urgent problem entailing vastly larger social services, we provide the attached backgrounder, “72,000-and-Growing: California’s Autism Epidemic.” (Also available at sfautismsociety.org.)
Thank you for your consideration of our comments. We look forward to working with the Task Force to find innovative, robust, community-based solutions over the months and years ahead, and thank you again for your efforts.
Very truly yours,
Jill Escher President
PO Box 249
San Mateo, CA 94401
Hon. Secretary Diana S. Dooley
California Health and Human Services
1600 Ninth Street, Room 460
Sacramento, CA 95814
October 6, 2014
Re: Public Comment for October 8, 2014 Developmental Services Community Task Force Meeting—Creating a Shared Understanding of the Enormity of the Autism Explosion in California, and the Sweeping Social Service Demands
Dear Honorable Secretary Dooley and Members of the Community Task Force:
We wish again to express our gratitude for your efforts to plan for community-based services to serve the more than quarter-million Californians with developmental disabilities.
Among other things, the task force is charged with examining services for the developmentally disabled in the community “in the context of a growing population.” We feel it important at this time that all stakeholders understand this phrase represents a considerable understatement, as it implies gradual and moderate increase. Instead, we have an almost-logarithmically and continually exploding population, primarily due to autism cases, that began in the early 1980s and continues unabated today.
For that reason—and to help create a foundational, shared understanding of the history and scope of this unprecedented, urgent problem entailing vastly larger social services, we provide the attached backgrounder, “72,000-and-Growing: California’s Autism Epidemic.” (Also available at sfautismsociety.org.)
Thank you for your consideration of our comments. We look forward to working with the Task Force to find innovative, robust, community-based solutions over the months and years ahead, and thank you again for your efforts.
Very truly yours,
Jill Escher President
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