In the report about New York City suburbs, it was found that toddlers in poor families who aren't taken on regular visits to pediatricians are less likely to have their autism diagnosed when it first appears.

A recent study in California by Cone also showed that in the large clusters of autism in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where children are twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism, families in these clusters used to have higher rates of parents who were college graduates, and parents who had better access to medical experts who specialize in autism.

This difference is noticeable along socio-economic lines but also works to shape autism as a white phenomenon since African-American children are more likely to not have access to healthcare, experience greater discontinuity in healthcare, and/or are more likely to see multiple primary care physicians, the opportunity for a provider to make an accurate and timely diagnosis of autism is greatly jeopardized.

The difference in access to care also widens for families who don't have access to help from state or federal agencies because of previous experiences with institutional raicsm or because of citizenship documentation status.