Recognizing April 2024 as Autism Acceptance & Awareness Month in the City of Philadelphia, and commending the work of HUNE - Hispanos Unidos Para Ninos Excepcionales - in supporting people living with autism as well as their families and loved ones.

Recognizing April 2024 as Autism Acceptance & Awareness Month in the City of Philadelphia, and commending the work of HUNE - Hispanos Unidos Para Ninos Excepcionales - in supporting people living with autism as well as their families and loved ones. WHEREAS, April is National Autism Acceptance and Awareness Month and Autism Awareness month in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a time to educate our community about autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (“ASD”), a complex neurological condition that affects, in varying degrees, language, and social skill development, characterized by differences in communication and social interactions, repetitive behaviors and movement, impacting individuals of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds; and WHEREAS, The 2014 Pennsylvania Census Report identified over 4,167 individuals in Philadelphia County with autism receiving services - more than double the previously documented number - the majority of whom are between the ages of 5 and 17 years old, with the number of adults over 21 years old increasing as the population ages; and WHEREAS, According to estimates from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 54 children has been identified with ASD, yet another indicator that this intellectual disability is, if not increasingly frequent, more likely to be diagnosed; and WHEREAS, A recent retrospective study of a largely representational cohort of ch…