Feb 15, 2019, AL.com: Birmingham airport cuts ribbon on sensory room for people with autism https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/birmingham-airport-cuts-ribbon-on-sensory-room-for-people-with-autism.html The Birmingham Airport Authority cut the ribbon Friday on a sensory room that will make air travel less overwhelming for people with autism and similar conditions. The room was developed in partnership with the children’s autism nonprofit KultureCity. The addition makes Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport the second airport in the country with a sensory room and the first in the nation with such a room designed for not only people with autism but also PTSD, dementia and other conditions…. Located in Concourse B after security, the space features soft lighting from a bubbling water wall, touchable activity panels, comfortable bean bag chairs and other features to reduce anxiety. The room is expected to be a refuge for those overwhelmed by sensory processing issues such as crowds, harsh lights, smells and noises.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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