Administration acts on autism, but not on a single federal coordinator

Fourteen months ago, we gave a Stalled rating to a promise by Barack Obama to appoint a federal coordinator to oversee federal autism efforts.

Autism is a developmental condition that usually appears before age three. Though the severity of symptoms vary, autism-related disorders decrease a person's ability to communicate with and interact with others. According to the Mayo Clinic, an estimated three to six out of every 1,000 children in the United States have autism, with the number of diagnosed cases rising in recent years, for reasons that are a matter of dispute.

As we recounted in a previous update, the administration has advanced a portion of its autism agenda through enhanced funding for research initiatives.

In addition, the administration says it worked to re-energize the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee that coordinates efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services. On April 30, 2010, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced several new appointments to the panel.

But the promise to appoint a "top-level point person" on autism was quite specific, and it hasn't been kept during the past two years -- a period we consider generous for a personnel appointment. If an appointment is eventually made, we'll move it to Promise Kept, but for now, we're shifting it to a Promise Broken.