The Washington Post reports:
The wave of aging "baby boomers" needing public health services in Northern Virginia -- once thought to be the greatest healthcare and fiscal threat facing local governments in the coming decades -- will be far outnumbered by the skyrocketing percentage of young adults with autism diagnoses, Fairfax County human services officials said Tuesday.
According to statistics compiled by the Fairfax County Public Schools, 1 in 83 enrolled students are now diagnosed with some form of autism, an 846 percent growth since 1997.
"That is a niche that's not being covered and those families are struggling," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D).
Pat Harrison, a deputy county executive in Fairfax overseeing human services programs, said the county's 65-and-older population will reach 138,000 by 2020, but that the population of young adults with autism is growing at a far faster rate.
