Autism In The Film: Rain Man

Many of you would probably know what autism is through watching the movie Rain Man, whose character was so brilliantly played by Dustin Hoffman. The movie highlighted many of the frustrations faced by families with dealing with an autistic child or adult. It sheds light on the daily realities that a high-functioning person must face with autism. However, there are still many myths surrounding autism.
So, let us get some of the facts straight in this article - what is autism? Autism is a brain disorder that affects an estimated 210,000 people in the United States. This comes up to approximately 1.5 per 1000 people. Many advocacy groups are sounding the alarm that autism cases have risen exponentially since 1993, the first year that data for autism was submitted separately to the Department of Education. According to the statistics, this would mean that autism cases in the U.S. population have risen an alarming 800% in ten years. Despite this set of statistics, many are not convinced by the data. They believe that there has been a fundamental flaw in data collection. Reasons include the loosening of diagnostic criteria for autism as well as the fact that the figures were understated years ago as hardly anyone knew what autism was then. …show more content…
It is usually first noticed in a child when he or she is three years of age. Parents of autistic children will be saddened to find out that autism is a lifelong condition.
Many years ago, autism symptoms are often attributed to "cold parenting" or "unloving parents". Medical doctors no longer believe that there is any psychological cause for autism. Despite numerous studies, there is no known cause for autism. There are many that say that environmental factors are major