April is National Autism Awareness Month; and given the staggering numbers of children diagnosed with autism, it’s probably safe to assume you know someone impacted by this condition. Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 150 children is affected by autism. It is the fastest-growing developmental disability with a new case of autism being diagnosed almost every 20 minutes.
Today doctors and parents are better equipped to help treat autism; however, there is still a lot of work to be done. To better explain what is known and unknown about autism, CNN published an article yesterday, April 2, examining the war against autism. The article focuses on vaccines and environmental factors, information about the growing rates of autism and how families can find solutions to pay for treatment and therapies.
We worked closely with CNN on behalf of Seattle Children’s Hospital to place this article. By building a solid relationship with Miriam Falco, health and medicine managing editor with CNN, we were able to present story ideas to her and provide her with resources the article. This meant not only offering Miriam the perspective of Dr. Bryan King, director of child psychiatry at Children’s and a recognized national autism expert, but also connecting her with a family touched by autism to share their perspective and bring the story to life.
As we have blogged about in the past, personal stories can bring powerful emotion to a story and highlight an experience that either directly or indirectly impacts many people. To read more about leveraging personal stories with media read our past blogs about the power of a personal story and the Obama Administration.
By incorporating a variety of expert sources and offering readers the family’s perspective, Miriam does an excellent job of showing readers what autism means to different people rather than telling. From a PR perspective, showing audiences the narrative story versus telling is an important rule to crafting a compelling story.
Click here to read Miriam’s article titled, “Progress is slow in the war against autism.”