Fifty years ago, I met my first young child with autism in a small, private (no cost) school in Woodstock dedicated to serving children who either lived at home with their families or, usually at the advice of their doctors, were sent to Brandon Training School (originally known as the Vermont State School for Feeble Minded Children: 1915-1993). Public school education was not an option in the ’70s and for another decade, even with legislation in place, not a reality.

At that time, classic autism, first described by Dr. Leo Kanner in 1943, was considered rare. For example, 4.5 in 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism. Compare this statistic with the current CDC estimate of 1 in 31, and truly we all must scratch our heads to figure out how we reached that extraordinary incidence level without everyone running into the hills screaming, “Epidemic!”

As a practitioner, I’ve watched this upward sloping trend cautiously and read closely the studies that attempt to explain it. The explanation most accepted by many of us in the field is, in basic terms, three-fold: 1) a key re-definition of autism in 2013 (DSM-V) that characterized the condition as a spectrum (Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD), far more inclusive than Kanner’s original, narrow definition; 2) far better assessments and evaluations that enabled much earlier and more accurate diagnosis and treatment ; and 3) a much more knowledgeable medical community of pediatricians, psychologists and family physicians who identify babies and children at a much earlier age and are now identifying teens and adults who have lived with some form of ASD throughout their lives. Networking by parents of children with autism and the grassroots organizations they created also increased awareness of early signs of autism.

All of this adds up to more children and adults finding themselves somewhere on this broad continuum and into the stats base, which has done away with terms such as low- or high-functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome, common back in the day. These variables may make us question the value of predicting incidences when the playing field has changed so remarkably. However, it doesn’t rule out the possibility that the incidence of ASD is actually increasing.

Early diagnosis of ASD received through age 22 results in more services and treatment options, which then result in better outcomes for a better quality of life, often including supported or independent employment, opportunities for higher academic and technical education, and independent or shared living situations. Vermont’s mental health network provides funding to parents and individuals to help them remain in their home communities. This system of community and public support has supplanted the “institutional” model that prevailed for more than 80 years in Vermont and led to many misperceptions of the abilities of people with ASD.

However, as we’ve seen and read lately from Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., those misperceptions persist and are now being fueled by the media. In a recent interview, Kennedy characterized people with autism as those who “will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball.”

What is clear is that it is not true that all people with a diagnosis of ASD fit this outdated, inaccurate profile. In fact, many regard their condition as a unique gift, not as an illness looking for a cure. Many are gainfully employed, participate in sports, play instruments, date, marry, have families — the entire gamut. As the popular saying goes, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.”

Speaking of cures, it was startling to hear Kennedy claim that a definitive cause for autism will be found by September 2025 when, in fact, intensive research on the causes of this disorder has been ongoing for decades. To date, the overall agreement is that ASD is multi-dimensional — a complex neurodevelopmental condition involving an interplay of genetic and environmental variables that primarily affect social communication and behavior. It is not a chronic illness to be cured. The myth that vaccines cause autism has been deservedly debunked and the researcher, David Geier (current adviser to Kennedy) who created and ran the vaccine study in 2013 has been fully discredited. The pronouncement of finding a cause for autism in five months could be dismissed and regarded as ludicrous were it not injurious by giving hope to parents and family members who have been bombarded for years with false claims and cures for this lifelong disorder.

It’s undeniable that there are some individuals with ASD so affected by their condition that they will always require a high level of care, support and protection. The little boy I first saw as a young educator and some of the other children I’ve worked with and followed through their lives into adulthood are among those who can never live on their own or work independently.

Fortunately, we’ve made strides in regarding people not solely through the transactional lens of what they can give back to society. Thanks to advances in treatment over the past 50 years, many people with ASD, wherever they land on the spectrum, are now able to acquire an array of skills that give their lives both purpose and meaning. They, along with millions of people with developmental disabilities, deserve our respect and compassion, which may well be their gift to us.

Linda Mulley is an autism educator who has taught at the University of Vermont, Dartmouth and the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative. She lives in Norwich.