Heritage Behavioral Services Blog

July 20, 2014 • NIH Press Release Most of the genetic risk for autism comes from versions of genes that are common in the population rather than from rare variants or spontaneous glitches, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found. Heritability also outweighed other risk factors in this largest study of its kind to date. About 52 percent of the risk for autism was traced to common and rare inherited variation, with spontaneous mutations contributing a modest 2.6 percent of the total risk. “Genetic variation likely accounts for roughly 60 percent of the liability for autism, with common variants comprising the bulk of its genetic architecture,” explained Joseph Buxbaum, Ph.D.  , of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), New York City. “Although each exerts just a tiny effect individually, these common variations in the genetic code add up to substantial impact, taken together.” Buxbaum, and colleagues

By Michelle Diament UN Disability Treaty Two years after rejecting an international disability rights treaty, the U.S. Senate is poised to reconsider the matter. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by a 12 to 6 vote Tuesday, 7/22/2014. The treaty, which establishes an international standard for disability rights similar to what’s already in place domestically through the Americans with Disabilities Act, is now headed to the full Senate where it would need a two-thirds majority vote to be ratified. This is the second time that the U.N. Convention is making its way through the Senate. The same committee also approved the treaty in 2012 before it failed on a largely party-lines vote that year in the full Senate. A coalition of more than 800 disability, civil rights, faith, business and veterans organizations favor ratification. But the treaty has faced stiff

By Michelle Diament Attorney General Eric Holder Plans are in the works at the U.S. Department of Justice to roll out law enforcement training focused on people with disabilities. The Justice Department’s Community Relations Service — a division that steps in to help communities address tension stemming from civil rights issues — is currently working on the effort, Attorney General Eric Holder said. The move follows the introduction of a similar training program in March designed to address law enforcement relations with the transgender community. “Earlier this year, you launched a groundbreaking transgender law enforcement cultural professionalism training. And I know a similar training initiative, focused on the needs of individuals with cognitive disabilities, is being developed as we speak,” Holder said at a gathering of the Community Relations Service last week. Justice Department officials did not provide details about the plans. Holder’s comments, however