Receive the Latest Events, News, Jobs, and Top Community Economic Development Stories Like this one Click Here | Reach up to 1.3 million people Promote
-------
AUTISM STUDY LAUNCHES NEW VIDEO CAMPAIGN TO ATTRACT MORE AFRICAN AMERICANS
SPARK, the largest study of autism families across the United States, hopes a new video campaign helps the research initiative capture the attention of more Black and African American individuals and families. SPARK contends that autism research is more powerful when children and families from varying racial and ethnic groups are fully represented.
Since launching nationally in April 2016, SPARK has enrolled more than 120,000 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – 80% autistic children and 20% autistic adults. So far, more than 15,000 African American and Black autistic individuals and families – roughly 12.5% – participate in SPARK.
Since launching nationally in April 2016, SPARK has enrolled more than 120,000 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – 80% autistic children and 20% autistic adults. So far, more than 15,000 African American and Black autistic individuals and families – roughly 12.5% – participate in SPARK.
“We have a good number of African Americans and Black autistic individuals and families involved in SPARK, but we really want to capture as many people as possible to get that richness and diversity we need to fully have the chance to uncover the secrets to a condition that has implications for a lot of other people,” says Dr. Wendy Chung, Director of Clinical Research at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative and principal investigator of the SPARK study. “We hope that hearing some of the personal stories of our participants will inspire others to join our efforts so we can move toward equal representation and provide everyone with an equal chance to have a happy, healthy, and productive life.”
