Mary Bono Quotes

Autism is a very serious condition.

Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by social withdrawal, by repetitive behaviors and by some kind of focal attention in its classic form. Basically, it's an inability to relate to others.

Autism is an extremely variable disorder.

I've been interested in autism since I've known about it, which is more or less since I've been writing.

I did want to acknowledge and confirm the fact that my son does, indeed, have an autism diagnosis.

I've worked with tons of people that I know who are on the spectrum - but now I think severe autism has really increased.

Back then, people thought if you could talk you didn't have autism. I was just seen as this slightly odd child. I saw another therapist aged 12, and another in my early 30s.

I was not developmentally disabled, but didn't mature at the same rate other kids did.

My brother was diagnosed with autism at age 2. At the time, I was young, so I didn't really understand what it all meant. The doctors thought there was a possibility my brother wouldn't be able to speak - he was diagnosed on the severe end of the spectrum.

Autism currently affects one in 88 children in the U.S., and its prevalence continues to rise. That's why it's important to help organizations like Autism Speaks raise awareness and funds to support families and individuals impacted by it.

Autism is a neurological disorder. It's not caused by bad parenting. It's caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain's computer cables that hook up the different brain departments.

What causes autism? As far as we know in 2013, there is no single gene or single environmental factor that accounts for the more than 1 million Americans with ASDs.

If you ask 99.9 percent of parents who have children with autism if we'd rather have the measles versus autism, we'd sign up for the measles.

Autistic children are very difficult to take care of, especially severely autistic ones. When I was 4, I had almost no language; when I was 3, I had none at all.

The majority of autists - as well as their parents - seem to be genuine victims of environmental stress.

One in 150 kids is autistic these days. The autism spectrum is growing.

It seems you can ask any friend, any relative, and they'll be able to tell you about someone they know with autism.

Autism doesn't seem to have a seasonal component, unlike some forms of depression.

There's no black and white dividing line between a mild Aspergers, which is the mild autism, and computer engineer, for example.

A woman told me her child was autistic, and I thought she said artistic. So I said, 'Oh great. I'd like to see some of the things he's done.

Autism's a very big spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, Einstein would probably be labeled autistic, Steve Jobs, half of Silicon Valley, you know, Van Gogh. And at the other end of the spectrum, you got much more severe handicaps where they never learn to speak.

Relatively many autists are first-born children. There is also a pretty widespread conviction that the parents of autists are somehow different - for instance, many of them are very serious people or people who are themselves under some sort of strain.

My autism is a very mild form. It was diagnosed at the age of 25, partly because it wasn't diagnosable as a teenager (this is Asperger's syndrome, specifically). But there were certainly traits within that condition, within the autism spectrum in general, especially at the high functioning end, that I think are best looked at as pluses.

There is a tremendous range of children with a PDD label.

My two little twin brothers have autism, so I grew up around it and misunderstood it for a long time.