To Be Young, Black, and Autistic

A recent bet.com article touched on why the delay in diagnosis of autism in Black children negatively affects their quality of life outcome. Autism, like many medical conditions, represents the blatant inequity in treatment of disorders across class, and more importantly, race. 

With children, early education remains the cornerstone of long-term success in development. Failing to recognize the connectivity between nutrition, socialization, exposure to language, environmental safety, mental health, and a child's school experience is failing to address how so many minority youth get left behind in the race for success. On a basic level, the symptoms that manifest across the autism spectrum affect social interaction and communication-- both integral in early learning, and often determinants of how well a child performs.
It is understandable, then, how autism fits in the scheme of systematic abandonments of Black youth, and how an effort to remedy the core issues in inequity represent not just a brighter outlook for autistic children, but rather for engagement of the medical community with Black populations overall.

Would You Buy a UV-detecting Watch?

iWatch concept. (Belm Designs)

This week, Yahoo reported that Apple may roll out a wrist watch technology that would serve as a "virtual doctor" with UV and vital sign-detecting features.

What bothers me isn't the concept. To me, the idea of the watch is admirable: placing increased awareness of basic health concepts in the hands of the consumer-- perhaps hoping for a heightening of personal responsibility. But this recent announcement has me tiptoeing backward, away from my iPhone. I admit, having apps for everything has become the new norm and keeps us endlessly entertained. It just starts to look a bit scary when you stop to think about how there are apps for running, cooking, laughing, reading, relaxing, sleeping, learning, grooming, shopping, and so on.