Concern Over Autism Bill | Video

Jessica Roose | 3/20/2013

Lawmakers have been working on a bill that would offer support to families of children with autism. But some of those parents say it would come at too high a price: a loss of privacy.

But supporters say there`s no need to worry about that.

Living in rural North Dakota and having a child with autism can have it`s challenges when it comes to getting support and services.

"I`ve been asked why we don`t move to a bigger city or a bigger town in order to get him the help he needs. We shouldn`t have to," said mother Brandy Kracke.

Which is why she supports the idea of the state passing legislation to bring some assistance. But she says a current bill under consideration goes too far, by creating a mandatory database for those with the disorder.

"Just because they have autism and they have information that the state wants does not mean that they need to evaluate these kids like that."

The bill sponsor says the database wasn`t a priority of the Governor`s appointed autism task force. But that it is meant only to be a place that can be used to find information.

"We don`t know what it`s going to be used for. Why should they be able to track our children as they were criminals or animals? That`s exactly how I feel about the subject," Kracke said.

Senator Joan Heckaman (D) from New Rockford says that won`t be how the information is stored and that it will all be kept anonymous.

"It will be information on how many children have a certain type of autism. How many children are 22, how many individuals are 22. It`s more that kind of information rather than Sally Smith age five in Fargo has autism, that will be on the database."

If that`s the case, Kracke says that section of the bill needs to be better defined.

The Senate passed the bill almost unanimously. The House has yet to vote on it.

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