April 2 marked International Autism Awareness Day. It's not just the United States where autism numbers are rising every year; its a worldwide phenomenon.

It's hard to imagine by now that there is anyone left on the planet who is not aware of autism. If you don't have a child, grandchild, niece or nephew, cousin or a next-door neighbor with the illness, then you must have noticed a child in the grocery store pulling cans off the shelves and throwing a tantrum.

This is the reason I propose changing International Autism Awareness Day to International Autism Epidemic Day, and the month of April to Autism Epidemic Month. Perhaps once people admit it's truly an epidemic, they will demand that the government and health agencies at all levels begin to look more seriously at the numbers, seriously as any medical condition that has ever confronted our society.