Frozen in Time, a Focused Review of Autism Prevalence in Canadian Indigenous Communities.

The unprecedented global continuous rise in autism prevalence is often referred to as a while its parallel cost increase to society portrays a . Autism data originates mostly from industrialized geopolitical regions in Europe, North America, and Asian regions. Although efforts to determine autism data from regions in and economies are ongoing, prevalence information from geographically remote and economically vulnerable communities the privileged regions is largely undetermined, as is the case of the Canadian Indigenous communities, the , and highlighted in this focused review. The underlying theoretical approach adopted here is with its emphasis on including sociopolitical circumstances, considered the gateway to understanding health, illness, and recovery in groups and individuals. Accordingly, the review includes a concise relevant government system description and history of the relations with Indigenous peoples to provide context to present indigenous relations to Canadian government agencies. Scores in these communities face a myriad of survival challenges encompassing meagre health resources and services. Establishing autism prevalence data in these communities are exceedingly difficult due to multiple factors. While prominent among them are their strong ties to traditional approaches to health, illness, and autism conceptualization, the crucial obstacle is Crown and Provincial government authorities' and agencies' historically rooted colonial response to the needs of families with autistic members. It embodies a posture of , an attitude that is "frozen in time" in the approach, practice, accommodations, and services for these families. The review provides the preferred autism terminology, information sources, article flow, and Future Directions, all found in the Introduction's first paragraphs.