Eugene Levy Joins Fight for Increased Autism Services

Depending on your children's ages and your likelihood of getting out of the house for a grown-up movie, you may think of Eugene Levy as an ensemble member in Christopher Guest films like A Mighty Wind and Best in Show; as the dad in the raucous American Pie films; or as the buffoonish bad guy in kiddie fare like Cheaper By the Dozen 2 and New York Minute. If you're really old, like me, you may even remember him from the classic sketch comedy show SCTV.

Now, he's making a bid to be remembered as a crusader for increased services for children with autism.

It's an unusually earnest role for the Canadian comic actor, and one he came to when his cousin, whose son has autism, told him how much families struggle to get services like ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) paid for by Canada's health care system. He's approaching it with a suitable amount of irreverence, though, if this intro to a Globe and Mail article is any indication:

When Canadian comedian Eugene Levy thinks about autism, he pictures a scrawny kid.

The kid is dwarfed by other kids, who have names like cancer and diabetes and are protected by wealthy foundations. And when they need treatment, those kids are swept into the loving arms Canada's health care system.

But not autism.

"Autism is just trying to scream in the air, telling people, 'We need some help here!' and no one's really recognizing it," said Mr. Levy in a telephone interview.

Levy is joining members of the organization Families for Early Autism Treatment in demanding that the Canadian government fund ABA treatments so that all families can afford to pursue them.

In other celebrity autism news:

• Actress Holly Robinson Peete spoke in the June 4 issue of People magazine about her son's autism -- Celebrity Baby Blog has quotes and photos -- and also mentioned the diagnosis in an Essence magazine interview.
  
  
• Jenny McCarthy's website Indigo Moms is still not online yet, but she now has a web presence as spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism.

Photo of Eugene Levy by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images