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WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY
Understanding autism ..TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Snehal observed the quiet boy in the colony’s playground for days before she asked his mother, “Aunty, is he autistic?’’ Instead of replying, the aunty rushed to Snehal’s mother to find out how the nine-year-old girl knew about the neurological condition that impairs development in children. It turned out that Snehal’s brother, too, had a mild form of autism. As months passed by, Snehal’s mother realised there were three other children with varying degrees of autism in their housing colony in Vikhroli itself.
Is autism on the rise? When Atlantabased Center for Diseases Control (CDC) announced last year that the incidence of
autism was one among 150—up from one among 266—it meant as much. The child who throws tantrums at malls, the one who never responds to his name or one who flaps his hands at intervals could belong to the Autism Spectrum Disorder. At a press conference held last week, Dr Vibha Krishnamurthy, a developmental paediatrician from Jaslok Hospital, pointed out that “once you know the symptoms of autism, you will find there is a child in the neighbourhood or at a relative’s place who fits the criteria’’. In other words, it is not a rare disorder.
Dr Krishnamurthy recalls how when she started her practice nine years ago, “I was told ‘you will not find autism in our country’’’. That year itself, she came across 70 cases. Last year, her centre, Umeed, in Chinchpokli saw 150 new cases.
Dr Vrajesh Udani, paediatric neurologist from Hinduja Hospital, sees an autism case a day. “The numbers are not only due to awareness among people, but its incidence has indeed increased.’’
Researchers are hot on pursuit for reasons to crack this medical mystery. The favourite front-runners being genetic mutations, vaccines, excessive television and
rampant use of food preservatives. While the US courts are currently hearing a case of nine-year-old girl whose parents contend that she developed autism after getting her MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccine at 18 months of age, a research paper last year stated that areas with more cable connections (more TVs) had an higher incidence of autism. According to Shubhangi Auluck, a speech therapist from Chembur, “Apart from the vaccine theory, one school of thought believes that genetic mutations leading to the disorder could be triggered by environmental pollution.’’
Amol Gupte, creative director of ‘Taare Zameen Pe’, told a press meet last week that “there was something about megacities that is bringing about’’ disorders like autism. Dr Udani echoes another social theory: “Is it more in nuclear families where working parents don’t have time to stimulate their children?’’
This year, the United Nations has dedicated on Wednesday as World Autism Awareness Day. Members of the citybased Forum For Autism will present a charter of rights to governor S C Jamir. They want the government to remove autism from the scope of the social welfare department and transfer it to the education department. “We can then have more schools and ask for autism to be incorporated in the curriculum of MBBS, BEd, occupational therapy, etc,’’ says Chitra Iyer from the forum.
Achyut Godbole, who runs Aashiana, a special school, says Mumbai has over 70,000 autistic people. “Where are the schools for these children?’’ he asks.
Speech therapist Shubhangi Auluck, however, notices a silver lining. “In the last five years, awareness about autism has increased to such levels that parents, who are educated, are bringing their children earlier for therapy,’’ she says.
“With children coming when they are two or three years old, the chances of some of them improving enough to attend normal school is better,’’ says Auluck.
1. Standoffish in manner
2. Lack of pretend play or unusual and repetitive pretend play
3. Difficulty in mixing and playing with other children
4. Avoids eye contact WHAT ARE AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS ? ASD causes severe impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. No two children with ASD has similar problems, if one has severe social interaction problems, the other may have low IQ (even mental retardation) or vice-versa. These disorders are usually diagnosed in early childhood and range from a severe form called autistic disorder to Asperger Syndrome (also called the Genius Syndrome) One in every 150 babies born has autism Families with one autistic child have a 2-8% chance of having another autistic child
Boys are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism Mental retardation is present in 75-80% of individuals with autism EARLY SIGNS OF ASD No pointing by one year of age No pointing by one year of age No baby talk by one year; No single words by 16 months; no two-word phrases by 24 months Any loss of language skills at any time No pretend playing Little interest in making friends Extremely short attention span No response when called by name; indifference to others Little or no eye contact Repetitive body movements, such as hand flapping or rocking Intense tantrums Fixations on a single object, such as a spinning fan Unusually strong resistance to changes in routines Oversensitivity to certain sounds, textures, or smells Difficulty making friends Difficulty reading or communicating through non-verbal social cues, such as facial expressions No understanding that others may have thoughts or feelings different from his/her own Obsessive focus on a narrow interest, such as reciting train schedules Awkward motor skills Inflexibility about routines Mechanical, almost robotic patterns of speech (PS: even normal children e x h i b i t s o m e o f t h e s e behaviours from time to time) --------------------------------------------------
Autism: Ignorance is bliss...
Recently, I watched Namesake in which an American Born Confused Desi feels offended that he’s been named Gogol. If he had been an autistic person, this confusion would have never transpired. The boy wouldn’t have cared if his name was Gondogol instead of Gogol. My son, Shravan, doesn’t mind me calling him ‘Meow’ or ‘Chintu’ or ‘Shravoo’ or just about anything else. He responds to my voice rather than his name. He definitely does not understand autism. That’s the most amazing thing about children with autism. Ignorance is bliss.
So, what is autism? Most autistic individuals look normal. They are not physically challenged and we don’t like to call them mentally challenged. They live in their own world. They cannot interpret what’s happening around them. When you and I cross the road and a car honks, we understand the need to get off the road. A child with autism may run towards a truck blasting its horns. The most melodious voice—even if it is Lata Mangeshkar—may sound irritating to this child.
The term differently abled takes a new meaning here. Can you imagine: you have and you don’t know what to do with them. You have legs but you don’t know where you would like to go. You have a pair of eyes with which to see the world, but fail to interpret the goings-on.
Some wish this problem away. Others wish our children could live normal lives. And yet some of us (like me) wonder if the world were inhabited only by humans with autism, then there would be no wars, no strikes, no human rights violations, no rapes, no murders.
Autism is perhaps the only disability in which the parents suffer more than the persons with the disability. The disabled here cannot fight for their rights as they don’t know their rights. Go and ask a child with autism when World Autism Awareness Day is and chances are that he/she doesn’t know about it.
(Ravi I Yaar, advertising professional, writes about bringing up Shravan, his nineyear-old son diagnosed with autism) |
