Church musicians are joining others in commemorating Autism Sunday - the International Day of Prayer for Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

Churches of all denominations will be remembering all people with autism and Asperger's Syndrome in prayer. Autism is a neuro developmental disorder, it is a lifelong disability, people with autism have a triad of impairements - social interaction, social communication and imagination.

They say over 60 million people around the world have been diagnosed with autism.The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders to be between one out of every 500 to one out of every 166 births. According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) the "best conservative estimate" as 1 in 1000 in the USA.

There are 535,000 people with autism in the United Kingdom and 90,000 children with autism. According to recent reports autism is on the rise.

In a statement released in London, the Autism Awareness Campaign UK are appealing to British church leaders - the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Centamu, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance to 'speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves' by raising the subject of public services for people with autism with the British Prime Minister.