Autism campaigners around the world are urging Pope Benedict XVI to act on autism in the wake of the banning of a 13 year old boy with severe autism from the Roman Catholic Church of St.Joseph, in Bertha, Minnesota in the United States.

Disabled children make up a third of the 77 million children worldwide who are excluded from education - equivalent to twice the number of children living in the UK. This is the conclusion of a new report published by Christian development agency World Vision. Click here to support disabled children with World Vision Alternative Gifts