UAE | Education
Expert calls for more stress on autism awareness
Autism affects more people worldwide than diabetes, cancer and Aids, and yet programmes and campaigns to raise awareness and funds rarely cover it, said a UAE educational psychologist.
- By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
- Published: 20:56 February 24, 2008
Dubai: Autism affects more people worldwide than diabetes, cancer and Aids, and yet programmes and campaigns to raise awareness and funds rarely cover it, said a UAE educational psychologist.
With an estimated figure of one in 146 births affected with autism worldwide, the disorder still does not have any concrete reasons behind its occurrence except for theories, said Sarad Al Marzouqi, educational psychologist at the Dubai Autism Centre.
She said the UAE does not have any sort of studies on the percentage or number of people affected by autism.
Sometimes called "classical autism", it is characterised by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, unusual, repetitive or severely limited activities and interests. Sarad was speaking to a group of senior officials, including Damen Shipyards Group from the Netherlands.
The global marine terminal operator, Dubai Ports World, in conjunction with Damen, one of DP World's key shipbuilding and marine services suppliers, donated Dh60,000 on Sunday during the conference.
Long waiting list
Founded in 2001, Dubai Autism Centre caters to 43 children and adults till the age of 20 and has over 90 applicants on its waiting list.
It is considered the only centre in Dubai specialised in autism diagnosis and therapy through internal and external programmes.
In 1999 Saudi Arabia had 6,000 people with autism whereas in 2004 the figure reached 60,000, said Sarad, hinting that the figures are rising sharply worldwide but no definite reason could be cited.
"We need more awareness about autism. Most initiatives come from parents having children with autism because they live the case. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us should wait till we encounter a similar case. People with autism need everyone's support, including [that of] higher authorities," she said.
During the past two years there have been four cases of former children from the centre trying to get back to it after they were "kicked out" of the regular school which failed to integrate people with special needs, said Sarad.
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