[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           WALK FAR FOR NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR AUTISM RESEARCH

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, these posters portray two beautiful, 
happy children, Bonnie and Willis Flick. What these pictures do not 
portray is that Bonnie and Willis cannot effectively communicate with 
their parents or their playmates because they live with autism.
  In recent years autism has risen dramatically across our Nation, and 
although it typically affects 1 in every 500 children, in my hometown 
of Miami-Dade County, the rate of autism in young children has jumped 
to about 1 in every 250.
  On Saturday, November 3, I will participate in Walk Far for NAAR, the 
National Alliance for Autism Research. This will raise funds for 
research projects and fellowships to fight this devastating disorder.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the chair of this 
year's walkathon, Patricia Cambo, and the co-chairs, Rene Vega and Dr. 
Michael Alessandri, as well as last year's co-chairs, Michelle Cruz and 
Marie Ilene Whitehurst.
  Due to the success of Walk Far, the National Alliance for Autism 
Research more than doubled its level of funding for this year, and we 
hold promise that a cure for autism is just around the bend for Bonnie 
and Willis Flick and many other children with autism.

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