Ability Productions was formed as a vehicle to address the growing need of futures in autism & other intellectual disabilities through media, music, video and film.
FACT: About 1 percent of the world population has autism spectrum disorder, with the prevalence in the United States estimated at 1 in 68 births. (CDC, 2014)
FACT: More than 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder, with autism services costing U.S. citizens $236-262 billion annually. A majority of those costs are in adult services – $175-196 billion, compared to $61-66 billion for children in the U.S. (Buescher et al., 2014)
FACT: The U.S. cost of autism over the lifespan is about $2.4 million for a person with an intellectual disability, or $1.4 million for a person without intellectual disability. (Buescher et al., 2014)
FACT: Cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and intervention. (Autism. 2007 Sep;11(5):453-63; The economic consequences of autistic spectrum disorder among children in a Swedish municipality. Järbrink K1.)
FACT: 35% of young adults (ages 19-23) with autism have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school. (Shattuck et al., 2012)
FACT: It costs more than $8,600 extra per year to educate a student with autism. (Lavelle et al., 2014)
FACT: As of 2014, only 19.3 percent of people with disabilities in the U.S. were participating in the labor force – working or seeking work. Of those, 12.9 percent were unemployed, meaning only 16.8 percent of the population with disabilities was employed. By contrast, 69.3 percent of people without disabilities were in the labor force, and 65 percent of the population without disabilities was employed. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014)