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Some symptoms of autism include trouble keeping focus, impaired social interaction, repetitive and restricted behaviors, communication problems, a tendency to isolate, and apparent indifference (Autistic Spectrum Disorder: supporting people in primary care. By: Hardy, Steve; Holt Geraldine. Primary Health Care, Jul2007, Vol.17 Issue 6, p.31-33, 3p). We can all identify with these symptoms, because occasionally each of us is a little bit autistic. Diagnosed autistics are individuals that tend to exhibit traits of autism regularly, and perhaps on a more exaggerated scale. By exaggerating a set of human traits autistics are a particularly enlightening source for understanding important aspects of what it means to be human, and perhaps more importantly, what it can mean to be human.

Regard for autism as an "epidemic" follows from popular regard to it as a disease. While a case of autism can and does often result in "dis-ease," so do many other aspects of life (or all other aspects if you're a pessimist), and to consider a sub-set of humans as "diseased" is probably contrary to important notions of humankind's struggle for unity.

The claim that autism is an epidemic is false. The perceived increase in cases of autism is merely the result of an intentional broadening in the spectrum of autistic diagnosis criteria. For example, in 1980 six mandatory criteria had to be met for a diagnosis. As of 1994, only half of 16 optional criteria must be met (Three Reasons Not to Believe in an Autism Epidemic. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Apr2005, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p55-58, 4p). Both the number and language of diagnostic criteria have been broadened in order to identify more individuals with the needs of those that are on the autistic spectrum. This does not constitute an epidemic, but it does identify individuals that would otherwise not have been identified as autistic.

The importance of the artist in history is well established. Artists that are able to demonstrate their vision express some of the most cherished emotional sentiments that we hold about humanity that are not readily experienced via less creative modes of communication. Consider the Pieta with the Madonna and Child, the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti, an alleged autistic (http://www.medicalnewstoday.c om/articles/8702.php). I have had the privilege of visiting St. Peter's Basilica in Rome where this sculpture is housed. It evokes a passion that few works of art achieve. Some tourists were even weeping

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